


Shut Your Mouth

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [39]
Category: Avengers (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 65,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22337503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: The kids are growing up faster and faster - and in some cases, it's a real problem. All of them are struggling in their own ways with what is expected of them - and how to cope with being a second generation X-Man. It's just a matter of who gets in the most trouble first - and how.
Relationships: Chance Summers(OC)/Krissy Wagner (OC), Cyclops/Boss Lady, Elin Howlett(OC)/Trouble, James Howlett Jr (OC)/self loathing, Kurt Wagner/Kate Bishop, Logan/K(OC), Nightcrawler/Hawkeye, Scott Summers/Annie Hale(oc), Wolverine/K(oc)
Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/552748
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	1. Temporary Fix

School had started, and everyone was settling into their new year. The Summers kids were still in Europe, except of course, for Chloe, who, if she was being honest, was loving the extra one-on-one attention with her dad - and she made sure to inform Cody that she was going to outstrip him on control in no time.

While they were having a ball - with Krissy absolutely in _love_ with the classes herself, even with Moira putting her foot down more soundly than the whole of the Westchester team put together - the rest of the kids that had grown up in Westchester were slowly getting back into the swing of things.

Except for James, who had stuck to his plan and was still carefully avoiding Starks of all sizes while he assisted Bruce Banner in his radiation research. The truth was that Bruce was glad for the help, especially since, in addition to being quick on the uptake, James could heal faster than Bruce could, so there was little need for too many breaks or pauses which meant he could get more done _faster_ than if he'd been working alone.

So far, James had managed to avoid Scott too, who had started asking when he was going to try out for the team - or _if_ he was going to at this point, since it seemed that James was somewhat avoiding most of the Summers clan as well.

But that wasn't going to last, since Sammy Kaplan had cornered James while he was in Banner's lab and asked him to join her for the annual costume party. He started to try to talk his way out of it when Dr. Banner cut in. "He'd love to, Sammy," Bruce said with a little smirk, then turned to James. "I don't know what's going on, but you'd do well to get it off your chest. Trust me on this one."

"Noted," James said with a dry tone before he once again went back to what he was doing, shaking his head in disbelief that Banner was somehow more pushy than Stark when it came to this kind of thing.

* * *

Chance and Krissy had once again come in a couples costume - as Peter Pan and Wendy. Chance had insisted on wearing pants, though, _not tights_ , because "I have to draw the line somewhere," but Krissy was making it really hard on him for it.

"I still think you punked out on me," Krissy said, and he rolled his eyes and pulled her into a long kiss.

It was so, so nice to have Krissy at the same school he was, so that he got to see her more than just on weekends. He'd been a little worried that all that time apart had them drifting, but the fact of the matter was that they had practically picked up right where they'd left off.

And she was exactly the influence that he needed, too. That last semester in Europe had been great, but Krissy - she reminded him that there were more things in life than just classes and training, like trying to steal kisses when Moira was on the job, not to mention Betsy, who Krissy was _convinced_ was conniving with her father. Chance thought Krissy was nuts, but Betsy did seem to have uncanny timing.

But for as fun as Krissy was, there were some things he wasn't going to let her talk him into, and green tights was one of them.

When the kiss broke, she was grinning up him, and he shook his head at her. "I'm choosing the costumes next time," he said.

She grinned even wider and nodded, stepping in a little closer to him before they got wrapped up in another kiss that lasted until Gerry called out, "Hey, if you wanted romance, why'd you pick the _kiddie_ costumes?"

Krissy pulled back from Chance and turned to face Gerry with a look of pure disbelief. "You're horrible!"

"I'm just saying. You picked the eternal kids," Gerry pointed out, his arm around Nadia's shoulders. Chance still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about his cousin going on a date with Gerry, but hey, he knew Gerry was a good guy - and it wasn't like it was more than just 'let's go to the dance together.' But still. Weird.

But when Chance spotted James and Sammy across the dance floor, he grinned and gave Krissy a quick kiss before he headed over to see his friend. "I like the hair," he said, gesturing to James' long hair - he was dressed up as the shirtless Indian to Sammy's "cowboy."

"Things you never expect another guy to say to you," James said low, which at least got a laugh out of Sammy as he turned to face Chance. "It's a pain to keep cut."

"Plus, it's a good way to differentiate yourself from your dad if green and angry shows up," Chance pointed out with a smirk.

"Right, I'm sure that's the only thing saving me."

"You get what you wanted yet?" Chance laughed.

"What are you talking about?" James asked with his nose scrunched up.

Chance smirked. "Uh-huh. So you _don't_ want a Hulk-out before you leave the lab."

"With all the radioactive material? Not especially," James replied.

"So what's the holdup?" Chance asked.

"Hold up for what … um … tooth fairy?"

"Peter Pan," Chance said, rolling his eyes.

"Right. Of course," James said, exaggerating his expression for maximum snark.

"When are you joining the team? It's not the same since we're not in combat or self-defense anymore."

"Oh," James shook his head quickly. "I'm not."

"You mean 'not yet'."

"Sure … we'll go with that."

"Come on. We were the best team up ever!" Chance said, shaking his head at James. "Elin does great sarcastic commentary, but it's not the same."

"Is that your way of admitting you can't keep up with my sister?" James asked.

"Wow, you just twisted that up as hard as you could, didn't you?" Chance said.

"Really not that hard," James said with a shrug. "I could twist it up worse."

"Yeah, because me saying you're more fun with sarcastic commentary is _totally_ an admission of … whatever."

"So … does that mean you think you can take her down?" James asked, smirking a little.

"Oh, I know I can't, so stop doing that. That's not what I was saying, and you know it, so stop."

James waved him off with one hand. "You guys don't need me."

"Course we do!" Chance said with a grin. "I'm telling you: it would be more fun. And as my gorgeous girl keeps reminding me? We could _always_ use more of that."

"See, I have been misinformed, then, because I was under the impression that you needed to be more serious to get through Dad's test."

"Yes, you do. But you can be serious and still know how to have fun. They're not mutually exclusive," Chance said.

"I'll keep that in mind," James replied, not teasing in the least and looking more serious as he avoided Chance's gaze.

Chance raised an eyebrow at James and then shook his head. "Miss you, man."

He let out a breath and gave Chance a little shove. "Lies. You don't have time to miss anyone."

"Hey, you have a screwed-up sense of how the world works," Chance said. "Of course I can. Every time we do self-defense class and no one snarks at my jokes with me."

"If you're missing me in self defense, then you're not working hard enough."

Chance raised an eyebrow at James and then leaned forward, his eyes narrowed, to tap James in the chest. "Android. Knew it."

"Listen," James said, leaning closer and dropping his voice low like he was imparting some deep secret. "I know it's hard for you - what with the shirtless thing and all - but you need to make an actual effort to keep your hands off me. I'm no substitute Howlett, okay?"

Chance stared at him for a second before he broke into a _huge_ grin. "Hey look! I found the sense of humor button!"

"Who said I was joking?" James said, keeping his serious expression while Sammy tried to keep from laughing.

Chance grinned even wider. "Have fun, Sammy," he said before he shoved James in the shoulder as he passed and headed toward Krissy.

"Again. Can't keep your hands off," James said, looking at him like he was off his rocker as Sammy pulled him toward the dance floor.

"It's the shirtless look!" Chance called over his shoulder with a crooked grin as he kept on going.

Krissy was shaking her head at him when he caught up to her. "You're both goons."

"Pretty sure you like me anyway, though," he pointed out with a smirk.

She grinned and nodded before she pulled him into another kiss. "Oh yeah, definitely."

The two of them spent most of the first several dances out on the floor, passing Harry and Kari as Thing 1 and Thing 2 - and even Kaleb and Sadie looking incredibly elegant as Kurt and Storm just so they could dress up nice and show off their best dance moves. But they hadn't seen Elin and Nolan since the dance started where they'd made the requisite appearance - just long enough so that the world saw the Aladdin and Jasmine costumes- and Krissy was starting to get a little antsy about it.

"I'm going to go looking," Krissy decided at last.

Chance shook his head at her. He didn't want to admit that he was _worried_ about Elin and Nolan too, because he really didn't… he didn't want to even _think_ about that. So he kissed Krissy and then nodded against her forehead. "Try not to get scarred?" he teased.

"Oh, you - you just jinxed me, I swear you did," Krissy accused him. "On _purpose_."

Chance shook his head quickly. "I wouldn't do that to you," he swore.

Krissy narrowed her eyes at him and stuck her finger in the middle of his chest. "You might."

He grinned at her, batted her hand away, and pulled her into another long kiss. "You really think so?"

"Shut up, Chance."

"I was," he pointed out and then kissed her again before she finally 'ported off to go searching.

He shook his head and went to go grab some water and a seat. He and Krissy had been dancing the whole night so far, so while he was still weirded out by thinking about Elin and Nolan… he didn't mind the break to sit down for a while.

"So," a familiar voice said from behind him a moment before a heavy hand rested on his shoulder. "How do you like learning away from home?"

Chance grinned up at Mac Hudson and gestured for him to sit with him. "I kind of love it," he admitted. "Psychic defense with Psylocke?"

"I've heard she's kind of wicked to learn from," Mac said with a smile as he took the offered seat.

"Oh yeah. And Jean-Paul's flight class is my favorite."

"I _know_ that's wicked," Mac laughed.

Chance grinned. "I love it, though. I can fly anything." He paused. "I can't fly on the solo flights, though - that's the only drawback."

"Well, that's the price you pay," Mac said with a smirk as he shook his head. "I didn't know you were into flying. I'm a sucker for that myself. Kind of why I made my flight suit."

"That would be awesome," Chance agreed.

"You have no idea," Mac said with a grin as he started telling Chance all about his newest version that, so far, was holding up to everything but adamantium. "That stuff is just so nasty."

"Don't have to tell me. I grew up with Logan and K," Chance pointed out with a grin.

"Still, after hearing from Hisako how it even went through a _spirit barrier_ , I think I'm gonna cut my losses on that one," Mac said. "Put the focus more on speed and distance."

"That's where it should be anyway," Chance pointed out. "That's the whole _fun_ of flying."

"Well, as it stands right now, I can go halfway around the world at mach 2 before I have to recharge," Mac told him. "No autopilot like Iron Man has, though. Gonna have to work that in for long flights. Eventually."

Chance let out a low whistle. "I've got a ship," he said. "Not as … well… not the same as getting to fly solo, but it's pretty close with the psionic circuits."

Mac grinned. "Well, the truth is, you're probably better off sticking to crafts, my young friend."

"Oh, come on."

"No, really. The suit ruins it for everything else. Why do you think Jean-Paul won't fly in the jet unless he's hurt?"

"See, now you're just rubbing it in," Chance laughed.

Mac grinned wider. "Yeah, I guess I am." He shrugged. "Nope … can't even be sorry about it."

Chance laughed and nodded. "Hey, I'd do the same," he said. "Not that I can complain. I mean, the _Shanghai_ is a dream to handle."

"Well, you know, you might be able to give it a shot if you ever decided to try things north of the border. I know you Americans have an attitude about things, but..."

Chance shook his head at Mac with a grin. "Hey, I can't even think about that anyway. Pretty much locked down in Europe, you know."

"Oh, yeah," Mac said, nodding. "Just throwing it out there that the door is open. Not pushing."

Chance nodded and then cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, but I thought the suit was personalized," he pointed out.

"They are," Mac said, nodding. "We're trying to get a good enough group together to step in and take over for the old Alpha Flight."

"What? You're retiring?" Chance looked honestly surprised to hear it.

"Hey, I can't do it forever," Mac said. "I'd like to, but no one is going to listen to a shriveled-up Guardian."

Chance grinned crookedly and leaned forward. "They listen to a white-haired old Cyclops," he said in a stage whisper.

"Whaaaat?" Mac said. "Well, maybe that's my mistake, then. They never listened to brown-haired Cyclops … maybe they needed the older look first."

Chance shook his head at that. "I dunno. I guess it's just weird to think anybody's retiring. At all."

"Part of how it works, usually," Mac said.

"Dad talks about it like you go 'til someone finally catches up to you," Chance admitted. "Pretty sure he's waiting for that."

"He's been hanging out with Logan for too long," Mac pointed out.

"Hey, considering I'm sixteen and have already had two attempted murders from the same guy, I can kinda see the logic," Chance said.

"I can see it - I just don't like it," Mac said. "Sure, I've made some enemies, but I'd like to not die in uniform."

Chance nodded and leaned back, looking thoughtful for a second before he finally shot Mac a grin. "Hey, next time you're in Europe, I'll show you the _Shanghai_. I've been building her up myself for a while now."

"Sounds good," Mac agreed. "If you find yourself up north, drop a line, and I'll take you to the workshop where I have all my gear."

Chance lit up with a grin. "That sounds great!" he agreed, though before they could get any further in their discussion of flying and mechanics, he spotted Elin and Krissy. Krissy was talking with her friend in a low tone, and Elin's costume was… really rumpled.

Chance trailed off his explanation of how he'd given his first ship to Sying when he saw the girls, unable to quite stop the frown.

Mac followed his gaze to the girls and then very quietly and tactfully got up. "I gotta find Heather … talk to you soon, Chance." And then, he slipped back into the adult's portion of the crowd.

Chance had recovered a bit of his smile by the time the girls got to where he was. "Hey, El," he said. "Have you seen Sying and Penny yet?"

She glanced up at him and quickly shook her head. "No, they … I wasn't around when they came in."

His throat was weirdly dry when he nodded. "Yeah, well, they're kind of giving Kaleb and Sadie a run for their money with the Phantom and Christine dancing thing," he said, gesturing toward the dance floor, where Sying and Penny were, of course, being adorable, grinning with their foreheads together and dancing closer than they had to.

"Of course they are," she said, wrapping her arms in front of her middle and shaking her head at them. "I'm surprised they're not singing yet."

"Pretty sure he was singing just for her earlier," Krissy said as she dropped into the seat next to Chance and wound her fingers through his. "It's really sweet."

"It is," she said, though she didn't sit down. "I should leave you two to dance."

"Oh, come on, Ellie," Krissy said with a smile. "We haven't _seen_ you outside of team practices!"

"I can't help that," Elin said.

"Which is why we want to spend time with you now, while we have a chance!" Krissy insisted, pulling Elin into the seat next to her with a grin.

"Except that I know you two get very little time with _each other_ too. Or at least that's what you're telling me in your emails."

"Yeah, that's what happens when Moira runs things," Krissy said with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure that's why my parents even agreed to the move. Sneaky."

"So you just now figured that out?" she asked.

"Oh, I figured it out the first day when Moira got onto me for 'porting all the time," Krissy said.

"I think she likes _me_ ," Chance said, just to tease her.

"Oh, shut up, Chance."

"I'm just saying, I didn't have any issues before…"

"You are on dangerous ground, mister."

"Uh-huh." Chance grinned at Krissy for a second before he looked over at Elin. "Seriously. How are things at home? Dad okay? Your parents still scaring the twins into submission?"

"Same as always," Elin said, frowning to herself on the grounds that all her 'best friends' had to talk to her about was the state of the family. "James being gone most of the time and refusing to consider try outs is bugging a few people, but…"

"Yeah, Charlie's tweaked about it," Chance said with a nod. "But she won't say anything."

"Why?"

"Because she talked to your mom, and she said he needed the space to figure it out," Chance said. "And you know how Charlie is about _trying_ not to interfere - I mean, she totally does anyway, but she likes to say she doesn't."

"She likes lying to herself, then," Elin said, nodding slowly. "He's seriously thinking of stopping all of it."

Chance frowned. "That… he'd be throwing away so much," he said, shaking his head.

"He doesn't feel that way," Elin pointed out. "So good luck getting through his thick head."

"Listen, if my sister can't get through, and K? And you? I _know_ I don't have a chance," Chance pointed out. "I think he's being an idiot, but I'm pretty sure if I tell him that, he'll just agree and keep doing it, so… what do you want me to do, El?"

"I don't want you to do _anything_ ; that was more of a hypothetical," she said, re-crossing her arms.

He shook his head at her and leaned back with his arm around Krissy. "I dunno, El. I just don't know what to do."

"About what?" she asked, looking honestly confused. "He'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I just meant I hate seeing my friends hurt," he said. "You know. In the meantime. While they figure stuff out."

She rolled her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. "He'll be fine."

"And anyway, what about the twins?" Krissy asked, seizing on a new subject quickly. "I mean, Sying said they're finally starting to behave."

"Yeah, running with Dad with inhibitors at six every morning kind of made an impression. All summer long."

"Well, they were still getting grounded when we left for Europe," Chance pointed out. "Just for slightly different things."

"The interfering, not the keeping it secret," Krissy said with a smirk. "But Sying says they're better now."

"Still ended up with them running with Dad and James," Elin said, turning her head as she watched the kids on the dance floor. She didn't like the conversation, and she really kind of felt like a third just being there with the two of them while they tried to make small talk seem like it _mattered._

"I'll bet Jubes is relieved," Krissy said.

"She was so smug," Elin said with half of a smirk. "They thought Dad was going to go easy on them."

"Yeah, I remember," Krissy said, shaking her head. "Do you know - Sying said they asked their mom if they could try Cerebro, and she just laughed at them."

"For what? To try and see what he was thinking?" Elin asked with a frown.

"I don't know; Sying didn't say _why._ He just said that his dad couldn't stop smirking at Jubes' reaction for a day."

"They were really bugged that they couldn't peek in on us," Elin said.

"Yeah, I think everyone is bugged you guys don't come with a manual," Krissy teased. "Or we'd know how to help James pull his head out."

"You could try _listening_ to him," Elin pointed out, her tone with a bit of an edge. Krissy didn't know it, but there were plenty of people low-key complaining that James wasn't going back to what he was working on before - or joining the team. And she was starting to get mad on his behalf.

"I have," Krissy defended. "Out of everyone here, _I didn't bring James up_." She shook her head. "James actually makes _sense_ when you hear him out."

"Oh, alright then. You can stay," Elin said, nodding. "He can use an advocate. You can get Charlie to quit being miserable over him."

"I'm all for being an advocate, but I am not a superwoman," Krissy said, shaking her head. "You are literally asking me to ask a Summers not to worry over someone. Do you hear yourself?"

"It's possible," Elin said, tipping her head toward her shoulder.

"Hey, I'm a Summers, and even I have to agree with Krissy. I think it's hard-wired. I blame Dad," Chance said with an easy smile.

"Except _you_ know when to back off and not worry," Elin said.

"Half of that statement is true," Chance said with a shrug. "I still worry about the people I care about; I just…. Know how to do it quietly."

"Yeah, okay. If you say so," she said, smirking his way.

"You can't say I know when to back off and then immediately do that, El," Chance said, shaking his head. "Give a guy whiplash."

"I was agreeing with you," she said. "You're the one taking it as a challenge."

"Uh-huh. And 'if you say so' is definitely how _you_ agree with people, El."

"I said 'yeah, okay'," she defended with a crooked smile, since this felt like the first time he'd actually _talked_ to her instead of kicking around small talk. So of course, she had to pick. "So _sensitive._ "

Chance let out a sigh and then got to his feet. "May I have this dance?" he asked Krissy, glad for the distraction of a new slow song coming on so he could pull her out onto the dance floor and just… stop arguing with Elin when she was so obviously missing the point.

Elin turned away from them as they left - grumbling to herself on how right she was that she should have ignored Krissy and just … stayed away with Nolan. But before Elin could take advantage of Krissy and Chance's distraction and go right back to what she was doing, Charlie stepped over to sit in the seat Krissy had just occupied. "Can I talk to you? In private?"

"Sure," Elin said with her teeth on edge, already steeling herself for a lecture as Charlie took her arm and pulled her away from the dance.

Charlie led the way into the hallway before they ducked into one of the classrooms that wasn't being used, and she took a deep breath. "Look," she said. "I don't get involved in romances as a rule because they give me headaches. Teasing my brother, sure, but… not romances." She shifted her feet. "But I do get involved if I think it's dangerous. I've told more than a few girls that some guys were just… pure lust, nothing to do with love. And I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't point out that you… are doing really close to the same thing."

Elin narrowed her eyes for an instant, and decided the fastest route to ditch the _other_ Summers was to try and be agreeable. "Okay, noted," she said, nodding as she tried to step around Charlie, but of course, Charlie blocked her.

"I mean, I'm not saying it's not like he's not…" Charlie took a deep breath. "He's definitely after more than a makeout, is all I'm saying, really."

"I _know_ ," Elin said, nodding still as she tried to end the conversation. "I know what he's after."

Charlie shook her head. "It's just that if there was a guy who was doing the same thing you're doing to a girl - stringing her along, using her to satisfy his needs…"

" _Charlie_. Believe it or not, I've talked to him about it," Elin told her. "I know."

Charlie blinked at her a couple of times and tried to quickly reorganize her approach. "And he's okay with you just…" she held up her hands and shook her head. "Never mind. I know the answer. It might get him what he wants; of course he is." She pushed back her curls from her face for a moment and then let out a long breath.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Krissy - no one is getting hurt here," Elin said. "It's fine."

"That's only true because of the tenses you're using," Charlie said. "I'm just trying to stop it before someone _will_ get hurt."

"I'm aware of the risks," Elin told her. "Don't worry about it."

Charlie gave her a dry look. "I know how much you're still hurting," she said. "Of course I worry. About you, James, my brothers, my parents - everyone."

"Then you know that, at least for me, this makes me feel better," she said. "Even if it's short-term, it's better than nothing."

Charlie raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh yeah, sounding like an addict definitely makes me feel better about this whole situation."

"So I should _stop_ doing things that make me happy," Elin said, looking more irritated than before. "Yes, checking down the list of depression symptoms sounds much more appealing."

"There's a difference between happy and what you're doing, so don't play that game with me," Charlie shot back with a fair bit of heat. "I just came here because I don't believe in standing by when people are _using_ each other, but if you'd rather stay in your fantasyland where using people is okay, that's fine by me." Her eyes flashed before she turned on her heel to leave. "I told you - I do this for anyone I think is imbalanced. If he was using you, I'd have cornered him too. And I _will_ catch him on my way out."

"Don't catch him too quickly," Elin said, just to rile her.

"Enjoy your temporary fix!" Charlie called back over her shoulder as she stormed down the hallway.

"Try minding your own business for a change, _Charlotte_ ," Elin snapped, her blush rising in her cheeks as she glared after her. It took her a moment to gather herself and try to calm down, and she took that time to fix her hair that had come undone. She didn't know _why_ Charlie was pushing her, but one thing was for sure: she was getting tired of the Summers twins sticking their noses where they didn't belong. Both of them had more important things to deal with - and neither of them really spent any time with her anymore - unless it was small talk or trying to direct her personal life. And she was starting to resent them for it.

She was just getting into a solid growl over it when she stepped out of the classroom and saw her Aladdin down the hall. She was angry, but for just a moment, she was struck by the thought that Charlie might have _purposely_ been trying to tick her off so she'd back off her date. So Elin squared up her shoulders, adjusted the way her pants were sitting over her hips and whistled for Nolan to stop. "Hey, we don't need to go back to the party," she said, when he turned and grinned at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I don't need to listen to any more empty talk," Elin replied before Nolan grinned wider and picked her up to kiss the sense out of her. It didn't take long for things to get a little out of hand - but at least when they were going that way, she wasn't thinking about anything but the moment at hand. And her friends were doing the same anyhow.


	2. Planning For The Future

Sying had finally decided on a name for his second ship — though that had been a process in and of itself. It had taken him a long time to get to a place where he was forming a good relationship with her that wasn't forged in grief over the _Wonder_ or the fallout from Chandilar, and after that, he'd gone back and forth on several different options, because he couldn't find one that really… _fit_.

He didn't want another name like the _Wonder_. He'd been trying to evoke the imagery of space exploration with that one, like the _Marvel_ with his dad. But as it turned out, he didn't like space much — it was too lonely, and it had _not_ been nice to him, either. But he wasn't going to turn his back on it entirely, either, and he did want to take Penny into orbit to look at the stars that weekend, because that was still close to home, and it wasn't so lonely with her around, either.

But that left him with a nameless ship still as he considered his options carefully. He'd thought about something related to fireworks, looked through a few Mandarin words to honor his own name, and even considered just going with something like _Maple Sugar_ because that, too, was his name at this point.

But when it finally hit him, he'd been listening to music with Penny doing homework and grinned when he realized he'd happened upon the perfect name. _Cherry Bomb_ was a perfect blend of his dad's love of music and his mom's attitude and powers. And it had a sort of punch to it - less about exploration than it was about having fun and maybe causing a little destruction.

So, it was perfect.

The day after the Halloween bash, Sying had finally gotten a chance to sit down with a can of paint to put the name of his ship on the hull - in English, Kree, and Mandarin, so it was a longer process than just writing _Cherry Bomb_ on the outside, especially when he had his mother's handwriting (all flourishes) and he wanted it to look perfect.

He was working on the Kree version of the name when Penny came down to meet him with a pack of bubblegum in hand as she offered him a stick, simply because she knew that he loved it almost as much as his mom did. "I like it," she said when she saw the English name, which he'd finished first so he wouldn't have to keep answering translation questions from the majority of the mansion residents.

"Yeah?" He grinned over at her as she popped a piece of gum in her mouth as well.

"Yeah. I think it's more … _fun_."

"That's what I was going for," Sying agreed with a nod. He tipped his head to the side to look her over. "You want to take her out with me?"

Penny looked totally shocked to hear it as she raised her eyebrows his way. "I thought you hated space."

"I… don't hate _space_ ," Sying said. "I hate Chandilar — and traveling alone."

Penny couldn't help but grin at him. "So you're using me," she teased.

Sying shook his head at her and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "And what if I am?" he challenged.

She shook her head at him. "I might forgive you just because you're so cute," she decided as she reached out to touch the paint that had dried on his face without him even noticing. "I'm a pushover for cute boys, apparently."

"I hope just the one cute boy," he teased, the smile growing.

"Well, yeah, because you're the _cutest_."

"Good to know. I'll keep an eye out for anyone cuter than me and prepare to get my heart broken," Sying said.

Penny let out a gasp of a laugh and shoved him in the shoulder. "You are _so_ wrong!"

"I'm _so_ right," he shot back before he zipped over and stole a quick kiss that ended up turning into something a little longer as he dipped her, with her head in the crook of his arm and his other hand on her back — though he was still holding the paintbrush away from her.

Penny was grinning when he let her up again. "I love it when you do that."

"Then I should do it more often."

"Oh, definitely."

He grinned at her as she straightened herself up and went back to painting the words, though Penny simply climbed onto the ship and sat on top to watch him work, so he ducked into the ship for a moment to get some music going, leaving the door open and letting the music play through the hangar — it wasn't like anyone else was there anyway.

Penny grinned at him — it was Alison Kraus, her favorite — and started to sing along with him, so they were both in excellent moods by the time he was done putting the names on the side of the ship, even if they were both getting a little tired out from the singing — Penny more than him, since he'd dropped off a few times as he concentrated on getting the edges of the paint _just_ right.

"So, what do you think?" Sying asked when he was done and had taken a step back.

Penny grinned and held up her hands to frame the words between her fingers like a picture frame. "Perfect."

He laughed and shook his head at her. "I meant: what do you think about coming to space with me? Just a day trip, nothing big."

"Are you sure?" Penny asked, turning to face him with a slightly more serious look than before. "I know how hard you've worked to be okay again…"

Sying nodded. "I'm not _going_ anywhere. But I really did enjoy parts of being in space. Being under the stars, seeing alien civilizations… I could probably have a career as an intergalactic archeologist if I ever decide to leave the team. That stuff's fascinating."

She smiled at him for that one. "Does that mean you're reconsidering going to college?"

"I'm fine staying here and working on a degree," Sying said with a shrug. "I can do it on my time and put the team first that way."

Penny rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. What about the _experience_?"

"That's always been more your forte anyway," Sying pointed out. "You're the social butterfly."

"Oh yeah, and you're _such_ a shrinking violet," she teased.

Sying just laughed at her and kissed her. "I like where I am right now," he said. "This is where my family is, and this is where the team is. I can't imagine doing anything else, space archeologist jokes aside."

Penny let her shoulders droop dramatically as she draped her arms around her shoulders. She was a year older than him and was taking the SAT, looking ahead to her senior year next year and then college after that — though since he'd sped through school with his dad, he was actually ahead of her in that regard, even if he was sticking around at the school for the more _unusual_ classes like combat, human-mutant relations…

He knew that Penny had no interest in being on the team, but she had put in the work to be at the Westchester school with her fairly impressive powerset so that she could be close to family in New York. Sying knew she absolutely _could_ be on the team if she wanted to be — she had a good head on her shoulders and the ability to build an armor sort of like Colossus', but with properties that mimicked metals that she came into contact with.

If she touched his grandfather's claws, for example, she's be wrapped in something like adamantium and pretty much unstoppable.

But Penny liked _people_ more than she liked fighting, and she would rather go to a party than to a training room. Not that Sying minded in the least. He loved dance parties, because music literally _felt good_ on his skin.

"Have you figured out where you want to apply?" Sying asked.

Penny shrugged. "Everywhere, really. I mean, Juilliard would be ideal, but also totally cutthroat, so it's hard to balance."

"I'll come to all your performances," he promised with a smile.

"Except the ones when the world is in danger," she pointed out.

"Well, that's true. I can only be in one place at a time, sadly," he agreed.

She shook her head at him and kissed him gently. "Let's not look that far ahead," she said. "Let's just look ahead at a weekend getaway to the stars."

"I like that idea," he agreed before he pulled her into a longer kiss as she slid her hands across his shoulders, one hand moving into his hair and the other pulling him tighter. He pulled her gently, with his hands in the small of her back and between her shoulders, careful not to pull her so tightly that she couldn't get away.

His mom had taught him right, after all. He was super strong, and he never wanted a girl to feel like she couldn't get out, even if she didn't want to.

But Penny never pulled away, and when he let her set the pace, he was always pleasantly surprised. She tasted like the peach-flavored bubble gum as she stepped further into him until she had an ankle tucked around his, and then he was the one in control, his back against the hull of the _Cherry Pie_ but balanced so that he was all but catching her.

And then all of a sudden, there wasn't anything behind him as the _Cherry Bomb_ opened up the wall he was leaning against, and both of them tumbled backward into the ship.

Penny let out a delighted laugh as the ship closed the wall behind them, and she grinned down at Sying, who couldn't help matching her grin right back. "I think your ship likes me," she said.

That just got an even wider grin out of him as he pulled her down, perfectly content to run with his ship's not-so-subtle suggestion. "She has good taste," he said before he kissed her all over again, grinning against her mouth when his ship not-very-subtly dimmed the lights, too.

* * *

"Hey, Ger, you okay?" Krissy asked as she sat down beside her friend. He looked tired and worn-out, though not enough that his smile was any dimmer when he saw her and pulled her into a hug under his arm.

"Oh yeah, just tired," he said when he'd finished messing up her hair. "Home for the weekend?"

She nodded. "Team practice." She tipped her head to look up at him. "Are you coming?"

"Well, I took the test yesterday," Gerry said, indicating his tired expression. "Thus the crash."

"That bad?" Krissy asked, remembering how her own test had gone. She was pretty sure she'd only barely scraped by, and then there had been those days of waiting that were almost worse than the test itself because she had been so concerned that she'd brought Sying's chances down by insisting on doing things together…

Gerry leaned back with his coffee cup. "Just not quite what I was expecting," he explained.

"It never is," Krissy agreed. She tipped her head to the side as she studied him. "So, what was yours?"

Gerry made a face. "There was one where Mom was working with Viper again. She'd had some kind of break, I guess. It was _not_ fun," he said.

Krissy shook her head and made a point of doing a full-body dramatic shudder when she heard it. "Yeah. Ew. That sounds awful."

"It kinda was," he agreed. "Then there was one where the objective was to hide - Logan said you passed that one faster than I did."

Krissy smirked. "We Elves know how to make speedy getaways and wait for the smoke to clear."

"I can't believe you just punned your own 'ports."

"I'm also a Hawkeye; I can't believe _you_ can't believe it."

"I know; I _must_ be tired, right?" Gerry said, grinning a little wider at her, and she shook her head at him.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go catch up to the others."

* * *

K barely knocked before she let herself into Scott's office and made her way over to the chair across from him. "We have a little problem," she told him before she slid a tablet across the desk. "I wasn't going to say anything to you about this unless it proved to be troublesome, and to be honest, I thought it was mostly a bit of paranoia," K said. "However … you should know that Charlie is a little detective — earned her PI badge and everything on this one."

"What one? All I see here is a map of Salem Center," Scott said with a little frown.

"That's because you didn't let me get there yet, and there is background, okay?" K said before she let out a sigh. "When you were in Europe, Charlie felt some nefarious intent from some guy. I think you were in Italy when it happened, I don't know, but … anyhow." She waved him off. "She had the foresight to drop a bug on this guy. It must have been in his bag or a coat or something, because it's still pinging, and it's pinging here."

"Who are they?" Scott asked, already getting into a much more studious and serious look.

"Some kind of cultists," K said finally. "Last time I was out and about, I looked into them. They've got some seriously poorly-aimed hatred that they're using religion to hide behind, but I think they're getting more influential."

"Are we looking at another Church of Humanity kind of thing, or is this something we should call in Billy or Kurt or Strange on?" Scott asked.

K tipped her head to the side as she weighed it out. "I'm not entirely sure," she said honestly. "They're using Norse runes as their 'secret' communications, but for the most part - they're either using them wrong, with their own code system attached to the symbols, or they're misinterpreting the meaning of them entirely."

"That's not much to go on. We can't go after people for being hateful or being stupid with their runes."

"No, I know that." She nodded in agreement. "But … they have all kinds of anti-mutant pictures as … I don't know... inspiration in their little hideouts — at least in the entries. I wasn't about to go in further without backup or a reasonable distraction bigger'n a bamf. But I didn't get any scent of gun oil or explosives, for what it's worth. Not where I was at anyhow."

Scott nodded slowly as he considered it and then seemed to come to a decision. "Alright. This is still at a surveillance level, and that's not something we've had our junior squad do yet," he said slowly. "It might be good for them to learn from you — and I think it would be good for Gerry if his first mission was something like this that works with his strengths. He can keep you guys in shadows — or blind the guys if you need the big distraction."

She nodded along. "Sounds like a plan, but if they are going to do more surveillance work, we should set up an afternoon and teach them right."

Scott smirked. "I think they'll learn well from you," he said, "but I'd like to set up a few sims with you and Natasha, so they can see the interplay."

"I'd prefer if we did an afternoon that she be involved," she told him. "She's got a totally different style than I do."

"Not just with spywork. Her teaching style is different too," Scott agreed. He leaned back. "The kids know you and Logan can do whatever we put in front of you, but I want them to have a healthy respect for more than just the two of you," he said with almost a teasing smirk.

"Well, when that happens, let me know," K replied.

Scott smirked as he got to his feet. "Thanks," he said, then paused. "I'm going to run this by Captain Rogers and Peter Parker as well, in case they know about these guys. No reason to send the kids into something worse than we think it is if we can help it. I'll let you know when I've got the spywork program up and running, and then we'll see if we can stop this from getting bad before it gets off the ground."


	3. You Can't Kill An Idea

The next few team practices were different to what the junior squad was used to, and it had worn them down for a couple weeks. K was hard to keep up with; K and Natasha working in concert to put them through their paces was downright exhausting — and yet somehow fun.

It turned out that, while Gerry's powerset was excellent for this kind of thing and Elin was naturally sneaky and on her way to eventually being as good as her parents if she kept up the practice — Krissy was also good at surveillance work, to even her own surprise. Most people didn't look _up,_ as Sying knew from hiding on the ceilings — but more than that, Krissy was good at reading _people_. She could tell when someone's cover had been blown or when someone was watching their hiding places — and she was excellent at dramatic distractions.

But after two weeks of more or less an intensive spy training camp, this time, when the team met up again, Scott directed them to the War Room, where K was already waiting for them.

K gave all of them a moment as she watched them file in. "First things first: no X-Men uniforms this run. No faces, no distinguishing characteristics — for your safety and for the school." She waited for any of them to object. "Your temporary uniforms are in the locker room; they might look a little familiar."

"No distinguishing characteristics — are you going to make me tuck my tail?" Krissy asked.

"It would be best, unless you can't handle it — in which case, stick to the darkest shadows," K replied.

"Try an inducer," Chance suggested. "You can keep the tail out, but no one would see it, right?"

"Unless it's programmed to make you look like a ninja, that won't work," K said. "And I'd prefer she get through this without the tech, even if you do seem to think that blondes have more fun."

"We really did," Chance smirked.

"I can tuck the tail," Krissy said. "It'll just throw off my balance a little. If we get into a fight, it needs to come back out."

K gave her a serious look. "If it's a problem, let it loose," she told her. "This shouldn't go to blows. You're just going to be doing what we've been practicing — placing bugs and setting up surveillance." She turned to Chance. "But that means no guns for you, no jokes, and Elin — no claws."

"No jokes. That's a mean rule for my first mission," Gerry said with a grin K's way.

"You can joke after, sunshine," she told him.

"You know what, just for that, I'm keeping that as my codename. No takebacks," Gerry said.

She stepped back with a little smile. "Now, unlike your usual missions, I'm not going to tell you every little step like you're all used to. I want to see how you work on your own, so however you structure yourselves best — follow whoever you think will do the best job leading."

"Sounds like you're up, El," Chance said with a tip of his head Elin's way. "You're better at the sneaky ninja stuff."

"Su-ure," Elin said, almost frowning his way. "If you say so."

"Figure it out on the way," K told them. "But have a plan. These are the maps of the place you'll be going into — and the topos of the area around it." She tipped her head to the screen behind Chance. "Take some time to familiarize yourselves with it. And when you get into the ninja gear downstairs, be sure to check each other for even so much as a stray hair sticking out."

"And try to keep your hands to yourselves," Sying said dryly Krissy and Chance's way.

"I didn't think I had to say it, but since you brought it up..." K said, shrugging. "Girls help girls, etcetera …"

"Spoilsport," Krissy said, sticking her tongue out at Syng.

"He's just trying to make sure you make it to the mission instead of a make out session," K replied without looking over at her.

"Like I said. Spoilsport."

"Didn't realize Kurt and Scott were so close to getting _grand_ babies," K shot back.

Krissy turned a brilliantly bright purple, and Chance turned pink beside her, though Scott looked downright shocked for a second before he switched to a dry, dry look K's way.

"Anything you want to add, Scott?" K asked casually.

Scott's dry look seemed to somehow get drier before he turned to the team. "You've all got the right training under your belts. Now's the time to prove you can use it," he said simply before he gestured to K to leave and got to his feet himself, leaving the kids to familiarize themselves and get ready.

"So. Bad guys hiding in a library basement. Sounds… cliche," Gerry said at last.

"It's an old one," Elin said. "But big basement, sub basement from what … hundred and fifty years ago or so? Nothing creepy about that at all."

"Hope you don't get scared of the dark." Gerry grinned her way.

"So, El, whatcha got?" Chance asked, tipping his head at the maps.

"I think we have a couple of entry options," she said, pointing them out. "Too old for ventilation shafts, so … sorry about your options, tinyHawks."

Gerry made a show of snapping his fingers. "Drat."

"I think … Chance, can you take Sying to cover the exits and put up the cameras outside? I think between Krissy, Gerry, and I, we can get in and out without anyone seeing us, and I don't want him to go in with less than two regulars first time out."

Chance nodded his agreement. "Plus, you three are the sneakiest. I like it."

"Some of us for more reasons than others," Elin replied with a little smirk.

Chance matched her smirk before he nodded. "Well, us non-sneaky boys got your back."

"You can play sneak next time," Elin promised. "The two of you are a better wide-angle coverage, and you know it."

"No, I like it. Play to the strengths," he agreed before he threw an arm around Sying's shoulders. "C'mon. Let's go."

Elin turned to Gerry with a much more serious look. "So, we'll get in nice and quiet, and if we have any trouble, you'll kill the lights, right? Krissy and I will take care of you. Don't worry."

"Yeah, I can handle that," Gerry promised. "I can even play with the shadows to keep the lights dimmer for us."

"Awesome," she said with a little smile. "I'll warn you about these ninja suits … you'll actually need help to get into them right, so don't zip up the neck until the hood is on too."

"So the thing about keeping our hands to ourselves was actually necessary." Gerry smirked.

"Lil bit," she said, nodding. "You know … team only has one locker room."

"Yeah… that's fun," Gerry said.

"You're next to Sying," Krissy sang out.

Gerry shook his head to himself as the team moved out, though he was glad to see, on a protective big brother level, that the girls had undershirts. Because he did _not_ want to have to put up with trying not to knock Chance over if he was looking at his fellow Hawk too hard.

Once the group had changed — and it was clear that no one would be able to tell who they were — they met up with K in the hangar, who was similarly dressed and waiting to go. "If anything goes wrong — I'll fix it. But I'm expecting to have nothing to do tonight."

"Knock on wood and all that," Gerry said.

K shook her head at him and headed for the cockpit, though she surprised Chance by giving him a shrill whistle. "You're up."

Chance paused for only a second before it was obvious he was grinning even through the gear. "Sweet," he said, almost vaulting into his seat.

They set down far enough out from the old building that no one would notice them, and once they were set, they split into their separate groups, Chance and Sying circling around the outside while Elin led the other two into the library and down the basement steps.

Once the sneaky group was in the library, the comms were a no-go — they couldn't get through to the other team. But considering everyone had a bamf with them, the boys on the outside had to wait.

"Saw the new name on the ship," Chance said in a whisper to Sying once they'd gone through to place their cameras and had a good spot to watch the exits. "Fitting."

"Yeah, I wanted something a little more…"

"Fiery?"

"Yeah. And less like it was the name of an Antarctic exploration craft," Sying said with a smirk.

Chance snorted out a laugh. "Hey, I like the _Marvel_ and the _Wonder_."

"I like the _Shanghai_ too. Didn't want to go with _Jolly Roger_?"

"I like the other nickname better," Chance said with a smile.

"It fits."

"Well, how'd you wind up with _Cherry Bomb_?"

"Listening to music with—"

"—with Penny, got it." Chance nodded. "That's kind of sweet, you know."

"She was there for the christening," Sying said with a smile that read all kinds of trouble.

There was a small click on the comms, but no other sound came though, and the panic light didn't go off, so it sounded more like someone had hit it on accident than had tried to reach out.

Sying glanced over at Chance. "Should we…"

"Let's give it a minute," Chance said, though the earlier teasing mood had evaporated as they paid closer attention now.

The darkness around them didn't seem to darken, and the crickets were still chirping, with no sign of anything amiss for the longest time. Until there was a shout from the building that was most definitely not their teammates.

As the two of them started to head toward the building; there were several muted _bamf's_ that echoed the night around them, and it took a moment to see three black figures in the dark.

" _Run!"_ Krissy's voice was obvious, and her tail was out of her outfit to help her run faster without the risk of stumbling.

" _No! Hide!_ " Elin hissed back, her sword drawn as she headed toward the trees. " _Sunshine, move it!_ " A moment later, the comms with Chance and Sying lit up. " _Hide. We're not going to the jet until they disperse._ "

Chance and Sying glanced at each other before Sying nodded once. "Up high?"

"Yeah," Chance said before, in a second, Sying had grabbed him and the two boys were on the top of the library, laid out flat on the roof so that they were invisible from the ground.

The men filing out of the building were trying to do a good job of keeping quiet, even if, clearly, they were in a state of excitement as they searched around the building and out into the woods nearby. The wait seemed to stretch on forever, until finally, Gerry managed to redirect them with a shadow that looked like someone darting into hiding farther out from their positions and well away from where they'd see anyone on the team.

As soon as the men, all of them wearing deep red underneath their coats, had gotten far enough away, Krissy and the bamfs took that as a cue to get _out_ , and they all wound up in poofs of smoke in the jet a moment later.

"How badly did it go for an entrance like this?" K asked, frowning at the group of them. "And what did they have down there to kill the comms?"

"Some kind of spell," Krissy said, her tail twitching irritatedly, though her voice rang with worry.

"Spell?" K asked, looking much more focused on the young Elfling an instant before she snapped her fingers at Chance and pointed to the cockpit.

As Chance vaulted into the pilot's chair, Krissy pulled on the end of her tail. "It was some kind of… illusion. Once one of us walked through, we couldn't see or hear the other until they were on the other side too."

"Okay, save it for Scott," K said, shaking her head before she radioed to let him know what was going on.

With Sying in copilot, Gerry was watching the two girls that he'd gone in with and wearing more of a frown than the usually upbeat kid pulled off, and it seemed that both Krissy and Elin were upset about whatever had been back there.

Krissy kept pulling on her tail, Elin was unconsciously clenching and unclenching her hands, and both of them were staring more or less forward and worrying their lips. Their expressions didn't change all the way down to the War Room to meet up with Scott, though by then, Sying and Chance had noticed it and looked fairly worried about what exactly had been going on in the library.

Scott didn't miss the looks on the girls' faces either, and he inclined his head toward Elin, since she was in charge of the mission. "What happened?"

"For starters, they were using magic to keep their secret meeting secret," Elin said. "Speaking in a dead language, chanting, and calling for Azazel, more or less."

Scott sat up straighter. "I thought he was dead."

"He wasn't _there_ ," Krissy said, though that didn't seem to lessen her anxiety.

"I think they were trying to summon him," Elin said. "Just because he's dead doesn't mean they know that."

Scott frowned deeper at that. "Alright. I need anything you can give me — pictures, footage, bugs — and I'll run it by Wiccan and Dr. Strange to see what, exactly, they plan to do."

Elin slid the device that activated the bugs his way. "Good luck. The spell they were using screwed up all of our phones, and I doubt that the bugs will pick up anything, since we couldn't even check in."

Scott frowned at that. "That's going to make this more difficult."

"But I'll answer any questions you can give me — or that they can give me," Elin promised.

"I want all three of you to talk to Jubilee while this is still fresh and see if she can get anything from your memories on runes or any other details," Scott said. He turned to K. "I'll call Billy, but you should be linked in too. You're the one who picked up the mistranslated runes."

"Kind of a big job for Jubilee on her own, isn't it?" K said.

Scott let out a breath. "She's been working with the twins."

"Yeah, but jailbreaking into my head is hard enough, Elin won't likely be much better, and that's just the two of us."

"If you think we need to pull Rachel in, send a bamf."

"I do. And you need a hug from her anyhow," K said without missing a beat. "Besides, with her, we can pull in the other two boys that didn't get to see what was happening. The more eyes on this, the better our chances will be to catch signs of it earlier."

Scott nodded. "I'll set it up. And you should probably talk to Kurt. Even if they didn't get through, he should know."

K nodded just as the flirty bamf appeared in front of her to pick up her hand and kiss it. "Yes. We can go," she said, shaking her head. "This is what happens when you allow them into the briefings."

"Yeah, and it speeds things along anyway," Scott said.

"Only because they're not flirting with you," K pointed out before she and the bamf disappeared.

While Scott was fretting and making arrangements with Rachel, K appeared just outside of the Wagner's room. She was sure to kiss the little bamf before she knocked. "If I'm interrupting, I can come back in fifteen minutes."

She somehow wasn't surprised to hear Kate start laughing or by the fact that Kurt took a minute before he appeared outside, shaking his head at her with a grin.

"I said I can come back. You have important work to do there."

Kurt grinned again and shook his head. "Yes, I did - now what can I do for you?"

K tried to keep the smile, but it just wasn't gonna happen. "We have a situation."

Kurt's smile dropped, and he put a hand on her shoulder. "What kind of situation?"

"Obviously, nothing so dire that I wouldn't tease," she pointed out. "But there is a cult that's taken up residence in Salem Center that, as far as we can decipher so far, is trying to summon your father." She held up both hands. "I know he's dead, but that doesn't change the fact that they're trying all the same."

Kurt frowned at K for a long moment. "So, when do we leave?"

"We don't yet," she told him. "Scott's bringing in Billy and Strange … maybe Illyana if she's not … being … her. And Rachel should be here soon to do a major link up, that you might want in on."

"It sounds like I should be," Kurt agreed. "War Room, _ja_?" When K nodded, he simply teleported them both to where the others were, one hand on her back to keep her steady until she sat down. He looked around the room at the members of the junior squad and then sat down beside Krissy, with Elin on his other side as he put a hand on Elin's shoulder and Krissy leaned into him.

Rachel arrived a moment later and had only just stopped to give Scott a passing hug before Billy appeared with Strange, though Billy looked agitated.

"There is just _no way_ they can bring him back," he said. "It's not possible. I would know — I did that spell myself. I _rewrote his reality_ myself. He is never. Coming. Back."

"Didn't think so," K promised. "I was thinking more about a way to get around their magic silence zone. But by all means … keep reassuring the girls. They need to hear it."

For a moment, Billy paused now that he realized no one was questioning the spell or Azazel's return and then turned to Krissy and Elin, who did, in fact, look harangued. "I swear, if there was even the _remotest_ possibility that he could come back, I'd have been here to warn you about it. These guys are looking for a king that will never answer them. I made sure he can't even come back as a spirit to communicate. Just can't cross the barrier. He's not. Coming. Back."

Krissy let her shoulders drop and leaned further into her father, closing her eyes and nodding. Elin looked as if she was steeling herself for a moment before she nodded once but didn't drop his gaze.

"We're more worried about what they'll get up to chasing their so-called king," Scott admitted. "We can't get any tech through their spell, so Rachel will link us up."

With everyone seated, then, Rachel wasted no time in linking up the minds of everyone present so that they could walk through what the three kids who had gone into the library had seen.

It was standard fare for creepy cults, really. The men were all wearing the same deep red that Azazel had once been and were chanting, as Elin had described — but the focus for the rest of the onlookers was now on the runes and the spell itself.

When they had walked through the memories all the way up until the moment Krissy's unconscious little noise of panic and fear when she heard Azazel's name gave them away and the group of junior X-Men had to book it out of there, they left the memory, and Strange was the first to speak.

"They know what they're doing," he admitted. "Those spells, those runes — they would absolutely have summoned the old demon king were it possible."

"Or if they were pronouncing it right," K said with her nose scrunched up.

Strange couldn't help but smile her way. "Yes, I did say the spells were right, not the practitioners," he said before he let out a breath. "The spell to knock out your communications is exceedingly simple and therefore hard to fight. It simply does not _recognize_ any objects made beyond a certain time period. Cameras, phones, anything past the era of the Vikings doesn't register in that field. Add in a simple illusion and they are effectively hidden."

"Can you counter it?" Scott asked.

"I can fool the spell into thinking specific objects _are_ from earlier centuries, yes," Strange said.

"What about putting the right rune on something?" K asked. "There are a few older ones that aren't in their syllabary."

Strange gestured to her with one hand. "Exactly."

"In what language was that the same thing?" K asked, looking up at him with an expression of sheer disbelief.

"You say potato; he says tomato," Billy whispered to her with a smirk.

Scott shook his head at them and then looked to Strange. "Alright. Let's keep tabs on these guys, smuggle in some surveillance through their spell, and make sure when they inevitably escalate their attempts to contact him, we can contain it."

K picked up a pen and a piece of paper and drew out half a dozen different runes and slid them to Strange. "Pick out your favorite for this application."

Strange hardly glanced down before he tapped one on the top row and one in the middle. "These are closer to the… approximation of the spells they're using," he said with a small smirk.

"Closer …" she said, narrowing her eyes for a minute before she set the paper down and drew out three more. "How about a steel cage then?"

Strange smiled and nodded. "Any of these will fool the spell," he said to the group at large. "And as their attempts to summon him will constantly be thwarted, it's only a matter of ensuring that they don't turn to other methods. Sacrifice — a life for a life — would be a common conclusion. Or a vessel of some kind."

"It won't _work_ , but the people they try to screw with are a different story," Billy said.

"Half-informed idiots," K muttered. "Missing the whole point entirely."

"Those are usually the most dangerous," Strange pointed out.

"If their cult is built around the religion itself — or their understanding of it — then you'll be able to see most of their steps coming from lore," Billy said K's way. "But if it's built around the demon king and they're just using runes and religion as a tool, then I wouldn't be surprised if they branched out."

"I'm wondering if they aren't trying to re-trace his steps somehow," K said.

"He had plenty of followers who knew nothing about him," Kurt said with a serious glare.

"Yeah, but how many of them knew he was digging up old runebooks trying to get his immortality back?" she asked.

"I'll investigate whether there were any witnesses to the villages he left in his wake at the time," Kurt said.

"I'll go with you," she offered. "You don't speak it."

"And before that, he was in Mongolia," Kurt continued. "Whatever he was looking for there didn't work out, but if they are retracing his steps, that would be the next place to look for."

"Charlie's tracer is still active," Scott said. "She dropped it into one of their bags. We'll monitor them to see if they start in that direction, but I'm more concerned about what they're doing _here_."

"It's not like he wasn't here before," Krissy pointed out softly.

"And there was blood magic here," Billy said in an undertone to K.

She nodded her head. "Got it. They want to die. I can arrange that."

Billy smirked. "Yeah. That's exactly it."

"So, we're just going to wait them out?" Chance asked.

"We don't know how widespread they are," Scott pointed out. "I want to monitor them for a while, keep tabs on their movements and communications and make sure we know if there are enclaves in other places. Mongolia, Sweden, whatever. We move now and we get these guys but not necessarily the rest." He leaned back a bit. "In the meantime, we'll watch the places we do know they've gone — any missing persons, suspicious activities."

With that decided, the group broke up to head their separate ways, but just as Krissy asked Elin where she was headed, Rachel caught up with her. "I've got her, Krissy," Rachel told her. "She can talk to you tomorrow." The two girls waved, and before Elin could head down to the locker room, Rachel pulled her back to a more private, intimate setting. "I think you and I need to have a chat."

Elin let out a breath, sure that she knew what Rachel was getting at, since it was going to be a recurring theme with Krissy stuck on her wanting to sneak away for more private settings with Nolan. But … she didn't count on Rachel taking a totally different angle.

She led Elin to a private room, not that she needed it, considering that she made sure to block out everyone from finding them and blocked the twins and Jubilee from being able to reach out to them for this little chat. "You can't keep ignoring what happened when you manifested," Rachel said right out of the gate.

"I'm not."

"You are, and you need some help — or you wouldn't be shutting down like you are."

Elin stared at her wide-eyed for a moment, and it wasn't until just then that Rachel realized that the young woman simply didn't realize she was doing it, which at least meant that she could try to ease her through it. "I'm going to have my dad send you to Chicago once a week. We can ball up a few things — time with me, Kitty wanted to work with you too, and I think it would do you good to get away from this building a little more."

"And you think he'll go for that?" Elin asked with a frown.

"I don't see why not. Your whole family is on edge, and Kitty really does want to work with you."

Elin thought it over for a long moment, but Rachel draped her arm around her shoulders as she led her back toward the door. "You're supposed to be getting ready for leadership training. I know Storm worked with you already — and was happy with your results. Let's not change anyone's opinion unless you don't want to. This will be good all the way around."


	4. Totally Busted

There had been an early snowstorm a couple days before Thanksgiving, and most of the kids at the school were sure to take advantage of the fun weather for a snowball fight and some winter fun.

It had been especially entertaining when Kaleb had suggested to Chloe that they both should be team captains - he must have known she couldn't resist the challenge. The two of them had been hilarious to watch, because Chloe took the game seriously and Kaleb seemed to think the snowball battle was the perfect excuse to 'port around and tease Chloe.

"You're going to make your team lose," Chloe accused him after he had teleported behind their fort and ended up getting totally swamped by Zoe.

Kaleb grinned up at her, still brushing the snow out of his fur. "I picked good teammates," he defended.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him and then shoved a handful of snow down the back of his shirt, which prompted a yelp and a full-body shiver. "Give up yet?"

"You are mean," Kaleb accused her. "And the worst part is that you know you're mean!"

"You're the one who likes it," Zoe pointed out. "Or you wouldn't keep coming over here."

Kaleb grinned crookedly up at the girls. "What are you talking about?" he asked with a falsely innocent tone. "I'm just playing distraction for my team."

Almost on cue, several of the kids on Kaleb's side rushed over the side of the fort, and the snowball fight turned into instead a huge whitewashing battle. "Cute boy distraction," Kari laughed delightedly.

"Evil, evil genius," Chloe accused Kaleb, and he grinned even wider.

"Oh yeah. Totally. It has to come out sometimes."

* * *

Logan and K were in a good mood, seeing as his birthday was right around the corner, and they'd managed to set things up so that they could take a few days off and disappear alone- though no one outside of Scott knew as much on staff.

Not yet anyhow. But the promise of disappearing and acting a little freer had them fooling around more in the little hidey holes that both of them had discovered over the years hidden around the estate. They were slipping back into the house through the hangar to get out of the snow when both of them froze. It was clear, scent-wise, that they weren't the only ones taking advantage of the early blizzard, and as soon as the giggles began and the troublemakers started to climb out of the spaceship, Logan had decided he wasn't going to let it pass.

"Hold it," he called out, loud and clear.

Both Sying and Penny froze, though Sying was the faster one to recover as he turned Logan's way. "Hey, Grandpa Wolvie."

"Don't gimmie that crap," Logan half growled. "You're too young to be this stupid." He gestured for both of them to head inside. "I can't let it slide, kiddo."

Sying looked honestly surprised by that, and Penny looked like the world was crashing down because they both knew they were in a heap of trouble. "But… I thought you knew already," Sying said.

"I did," Logan said with a nod. "But I hadn't caught on to where you two were being stupid. Showering before you left the ship was a nice touch, by the way."

Both of the teenagers still looked like deer in the headlights as they glanced at each other and then at Logan. "She likes me," Penny offered quietly, gesturing to the ship.

Logan gave her a dry look, and K took Penny by the elbow. "Come on; we're gonna have to sit down and talk about this. Officially."

Sying watched the two ladies head off with still-wide eyes before he turned back to Logan. "I'm not too young," he defended. "I'm old enough to be taking college courses."

"If you feel like you gotta sneak around, you're too young."

Sying crossed his arms. "Yeah, because you and Grammy K definitely don't hide away either."

Logan shook his head. "Do you really think _that's_ why we go play around outside? Cause I promise you, kiddo. We ain't hidin' it."

Sying kept his arms crossed. "No, I'm just saying, it's like taking her home, isn't it? For me?" he argued.

Logan chuckled. "Cute angle. We'll see what the judge has to say about it."

Sying lost a little of his defiant look. "Oh, come on!"

"You just compared your teenage teenie bopper drama to a longstanding marriage. I'm not hearin' it."

"That's not - I was just trying to point out-"

"Keep in mind that Scott's _asked_ us to take it elsewhere. Repeatedly. To keep it away from the impressionable kids. You? You're hidin' it." Logan shook his head at the kid. He was trying so hard … and barking up the entirely wrong tree.

"But I _like her_ ," Sying burst out.

"Then why're you treatin' it like a dirty little secret?"

"I … I'm not?"

Logan gave him a look and shook his head slowly as he pushed open the door to his office, where Jubilee was sitting and waiting for him. "Hey punkin'," Logan called out.

Jubilee grinned up at him and then tipped her head to the side when she saw Sying. "Hey, what's up? I thought this was a birthday thing!"

"It was; things change," Logan said, closing the door behind the group of them. "You'll never guess where I found him hidden away with his little girlfriend. Alone. Guilty."

Jubilee glared toward Sying, who shrank back a bit with his shoulders up, which really only confirmed it. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Kinda sunk my mood too," Logan told her, filling his seat when she popped out of it.

"I like her a lot," Sying tried to defend himself. "And we work on my ship all the time."

Logan let out a little laugh at that but didn't elaborate on it at all while Jubilee fumed. "Not anymore you won't," Jubilee promised.

"But Mom!"

"But nothing," Jubilee said. "You're fifteen."

"That's how old Uncles Billy and Teddy were when they got together!" he argued. "And I'm older than that anyway."

"Not on _this_ planet," Jubilee said, narrowing her eyes at him as Noh came sliding through the door, obviously rushing in response to Jubilee's projected message.

Sying put his hands on his hips as he found himself outnumbered. "Fine!" he said, matching his mom's expression. "I won't sneak around anymore - I'll just carry her off!"

Logan cringed and got up from his chair. "Take all the time you need, Jubes," he said low as he passed her by. "Good luck."

* * *

Sying was pretty worn out after more or less playing pack mule for Annie and his mom all day to prepare for the big Thanksgiving feast and the Christmas decorating after that and the birthday party they were hitting James and Logan with in between… he'd been the go-fer for pretty much two days now, and he was starting to think his mom was just making stuff up for him to do at this point just so he'd be too busy to see Penny - who was in trouble with her own parents at home for the holidays anyway, so he wasn't going to run off to find her either.

He was still kind of sore about the whole thing, too, because it wasn't like he was the only one his age messing around. And he _liked_ Penny. Unlike some people he could mention. At least they were actually interested in each other, and it wasn't like he was taking advantage or anything. _She_ was the one who pushed more than he did.

So he was kind of in a bad mood just lying out on the couch and generally pouting, sure that his parents and grandparents were overreacting and that they wouldn't have been this freaked out if it was someone _else_. There were plenty of other kids doing the exact same thing.

But when Elin came down to the living room, he tipped his head a bit her way and took his headphones out. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied before she dropped into the seat nearest him. "Want to get some sushi? Kurt said he'd pick some up if I asked nicely."

"That's the only way I can get sushi, considering how grounded I am," he grumped.

"You and me both," she said with a sad little smile. "Though I'm not technically grounded. Just … overly busy. Team practices, lessons with Kitty and Rachel, private lessons with Dad … ugh."

"Must be nice," Sying said.

"Which part?" she asked. "The lessons or the practice, or the total lack of a social life?"

"The attention," Sying said grumpily. "Feels like they only care when you're in a crisis, then get you in trouble when you try to be a normal kid."

"They always care," she said. "You're just mad because your mom is all hot under the collar."

"I thought the whole point was to find someone I _cared about_ and then I get there and now she's mad," Sying said. "I was better off when it was just … unrequited with Krissy."

"I don't think so," she said, shaking her head for a moment before she shifted how she was sitting so she could rest her head on her crossed arms at the side of the couch. "You've been having fun at least, and I think Penny's been good for you."

"She _has_ been. That's the whole _point_ ," Sying complained.

"I can't even really get too grumpy with you," she said.

"Yeah, because you haven't been _caught_ yet."

"You think they don't know?" Elin challenged.

"They knew with me too. I didn't get in _trouble_ until I was _caught_. Just wait. They'll turn on you," Sying grumped.

"Of course they would," Elin said. "But right now the only reason I'm off the hook is because I'm taking lessons from _Rachel_."

Sying just rolled his eyes and sat further back in the couch. "I just don't get it," he grumbled. "They have _no_ room to talk. What makes them think we were gonna do any different."

"They _hoped_ we'd do different," Elin said. She let out a little sigh and shifted closer to him to lean on his shoulder. "Rachel thinks I'm still stuck on what happened with Azazel."

"And Sinister," Sying said.

"Yeah, that too," she agreed. "But she's focused on the first one more. She's a little mad that I never talked to her - or … anyone, really. And I guess she got a hold of James a little bit when he was in Chicago full time - though the little punk never said a word."

Sying let out a sigh. "I'm the wrong person to talk to about this, Elin. I know what happens when you don't face it. I mean. You remember how bad it was for me."

"Yeah, I know. But I'm just … I'm trying to tell you that they're not mad about what you did? More about how you did it. And yes, I am so beyond toast if I get caught."

"Yeah, I tried to tell Mom I'd stop sneaking around and _that_ went about as well as the char marks on the wall would lead you to believe," Sying said dryly.

"You know, I heard about that - and I'm 99% sure it was the way you phrased it that set her off?"

Sying let out a long breath. "Yeah. Well." He turned to face her with one eyebrow raised. "At least I _like_ Penny."

"True," she conceded, not arguing the point in the least. "Though to be honest … in some ways that kind of makes my argument a lot harder to explain to someone who hasn't been there."

"Yeah, I know, I've heard it," Sying said. "It's … not very smart but… I'd be lying if I said things didn't get better when I started dating Penny." He paused. "I just… I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I just want you to find a _Penny_."

"I know," Elin said. "But … it is legitimately hard to find anyone that is even interested, let alone a Lucky Penny that is wonderful too."

"Yeah, I know." Sying finally gave her a little smirk. "Not everyone can be as gorgeous as me," he teased.

"SO very true," she agreed. "You leave us trolls in the dust."

"And it helps to have a frisky spaceship," Sying couldn't help but grin.

"And I have nothing but skirts to help me," she said with a shrug. "Hopeless, lost cause."

Sying grinned and sat up on his elbows a bit. "Honestly, Elin, you've got the family magnetism. You'd be surprised how many guys I've had to smack for wandering eyes on yours and Sadie's behalfs."

"Yeah, and like the family history suggests, we always attract the wrong attention."

"You'll get there," he assured her.

"Right. Probably just have to wait to break the century mark," she replied.

"Don't do that - I want to at least be _around_ when it happens."

"Then you better figure out a way to live forever."

"Nah, that's overrated," Sying said with a wave. "Makes people move. Too. slow," he added, this time grinning her way outright.

"Then I guess you'll have to quickly learn how to live with disappointment on my behalf."

"If you keep _settling_ , I will."

"We have plenty of time," she argued. "I'm not settling. I'm just … killing time."

"Whatever you say," Sying said, waving a hand her way before he put his headphones back in. "Just remember I love you and want you to be happy."

"Same," she said. "And I'll go ahead and speak for my parents too - they want the same."

Sying let out an incredibly long sigh but finally nodded. "Yeah… I know."

* * *

Logan and K had gone out for Logan's birthday, and while Scott had known about it and was fine with it, it had been almost a week now, and in addition to the fact that they needed to come back for the school and finals season, the fact of the matter was that Peter had reached out to warn Scott about some increased chatter about countries trying to sabotage each other's weapons programs, which was amping up the demand for more mutants again.

This thing seemed to come in waves - one organization would start posturing and the rest went like dominoes - and with kids going home for the holidays in the middle of this kind of heat, Scott needed everyone back so they could make sure those kids actually _got_ home for the holidays.

He doubted Logan would answer if he called, so he simply picked up his phone to text K. _I need you both back here._

It was a long break before her response came back. _Why._

 _Because SHIELD's picking up more chatter on those 'weapons' programs and I don't want to lose a kid over the holidays just because these guys want an 'edge.'_ Scott replied frankly.

There was another long pause. _But your edge is sleeping so peacefully._

_Yeah, okay. That's nice. When are you expecting to be here._

_Hadn't set a date._

_It's been almost a week. I'd say it's time to come back._ He paused and then sent another one: _Annie's worked up too. Finals._

 _Give me a direction, big guy. I'll make a loop on my way in._ K's response was quick. _Take your mind off of one of those things._

 _There's a push between Pakistan and India,_ he said. _Which always ends well. And we've got a few international kids headed home that way._

_So … Someone will be back in a couple days. Someone else will be a little longer._

Scott shook his head lightly. "Not what I meant," he said aloud to himself, though he knew K was going to go ahead regardless. And he _had_ asked her to tell him when she went out for this kind of run. _If you don't get back by finals I'll let you know which kids are headed that way,_ he said at last.

_Don't have to. I know which ones go that way._

_There's a few from the other schools._

_And I read just fine when I do my profiles on everyone._

Scott shook his head. _I'll see you when you get back,_ he finally replied, deciding that was better than pointing out that there was no profile he was aware of on her end. She really was taking this whole thing seriously, which was great, but he wasn't getting the intel he needed not to waste his time if she already had it.

He'd talk to her about it when she got back. They _had_ to get on the same page.

* * *

Scott didn't have to wait long before the news had picked up what K was up to - though obviously, they had no idea that she was the one behind it.

They were reporting that there had been unexplained 'incidents' in several locations, and while the news itself was that the places hit were the weapons programs that had been gaining ground lately, both governments were officially denying any such thing. In fact, they were denying that they had even been hit, claiming that this was a misinformation campaign being spread by the other country, that sort of thing.

"She's got a light touch,eh?" Logan said over his coffee, not looking up from the paper.

The real clincher, though, was that the news was reporting the mutants themselves had been the ones to take down the programs from inside - which was helped by the fact that several mutants, from both sides, were on camera describing the programs and what they had been through. Captivity, torture, brainwashing, the works - it was all there on camera, and the news was so thrilled with the inside peek that no one seemed to really be questioning how it got on camera.

"Have you peeked in on JJ's show yet?" Teddy asked as he and Billy sat down at the table with Logan. "He's going to work himself into a stroke on live television."

"Hey, the guy's a volcano. He's going to stick around until he can't anymore," Billy said easily. "And this is up his alley. Outrage. Human rights violations. Two nuclear powers even madder at each other. Fun times."

"Is that a warning or a joke - I really can't tell anymore," Scott said dryly.

Billy grinned his way. "Yeah, if they were going to escalate any further, I'd tell you, but no one can prove anything, and they both think it was their own people, so…" He tapped the side of his head by his eyes. "That's not where the trouble's going to come from anyway."

"And no, he won't tell me where it's coming from," Teddy said as he poured syrup over his waffles. "So don't ask."

"Figures," Logan muttered.

"I think if anyone pays attention, they'd know anyway," Billy defended. "Not like the big players are being quiet about it."

"As long as they keep falling apart from the inside, who cares?" Logan said.

"Oh, they're going to implode from their own poor decisions, yeah," Billy said. "A few of them will need help to _really_ fall apart, but they're going to bring it on themselves with their own stupidity. It's not going to last."

"Hey, how come he gets a better explanation than I did?" Teddy teased.

"You just asked if the world was ending and then wanted to snuggle when I said 'not today."

"... Okay, yeah, fair point."

"I'm good, I'll wait for mine," Logan said with a crooked smirk.

Teddy and Billy grinned at each other and then both turned to look him over. "Tempting," Teddy said.

Logan couldn't help but chuckle to himself and shake his head at the two of them. "You're both cracked."

"Must be why we work so well together," Billy decided.

"I'm definitely less cracked than you," Teddy teased.

"Well, obviously. I need someone to keep me on steady ground."

"But you're cute when you float."

"You just like the view."

"Yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?"

"Touché."

"Not wrong," K sang out as she joined the group, looking fresh and well pulled together. "I brought some treats." She gave Logan a lingering kiss that left him smirking at her then headed off to grab some coffee. "Anything fun happen while I was out?"

"Wade started a betting pool on how much longer Volcano Jameson is going to be able to … breathe at this rate," Teddy told her.

K looked up at the screen and narrowed her eyes watching him rant for a moment. "Hard to say. Does the color ever fade? Off … camera, I mean."

"Kate says it's pretty permanent at this point," Teddy said.

"He's still got a few more years," Billy said, waving a hand.

" _You_ are banned from all betting pools," Teddy shot back.

"Ah, but you are not," K pointed out, giving both of them a peck on the cheek on her way back to snuggle up into Logan's side.

"Yeah, you'd think Wade would catch on by now," Teddy said, nodding seriously.

"Has he let you in on the secret pool yet?" Logan asked, not looking up. "Because he's a lot more picky about that one."

"Which one's that?" Teddy asked.

"That's a no then," Logan said, settling in a little deeper in his chair with one arm around K.

"Thus the name 'secret'," Billy said, shaking his head before he got up to put his dish in the sink and was sure to kiss K's cheek on the way past. "Thanks," he whispered.

"I don't know what for," she said. "Unless it's the baklava … super fresh."

"Take your pick," he said quietly enough that only she and Logan heard it. "The legacy, the lack of terrifying visions on my end…"

"As long as you keep picking," she said, smirking.

"Oh no," Billy said dryly. "Another slow once-over. How horrible."

Scott shook his head at them, though he waited until the group was dispersing before he pulled K aside. "The profiles you've got worked up for all the kids - what do they cover?"

She blinked at him for just a moment then frowned. "Everything. The basics about them and their families, who their friends are - eight degrees of separation down the line with everyone they are even halfway close to … what do you want?"

"That's all there is?" Scott asked in a tone that said he didn't believe it. "Just looking into their family tree?"

"Well, it's not just names and dates," she said with a smirk. "Political affiliations, criminal records, military involvement, psychological profiles … honestly. What are you looking for?"

"So you're trying to make sure none of them can be pressured."

She tipped her head to the side. "Partly. Everyone is pressured from somewhere. I just want to know all I can about them and where they're coming from. We've had a few issues with that and it irked me."

"I want copies."

"No copies," she said, shaking her head.

"Then I want access," Scott said. "I'm wasting resources trying to look out for these kids if you've already done the work I need to see."

"Scott, I'm trying to give you deniability. No one on the planet does background checks like this."

"K, if I _need_ the deniability, it'll be because either you or I made a misstep, and we're screwed anyway," he pointed out.

"Well that's just not possible," she argued, crossing her arms.

"Exactly. So put me on the same page so I'm not finding about stuff like this after the fact and wasting my time," Scott said simply. "I don't need the protection."

"You do," she said. "But I can see your point anyhow."

Scott nodded once. "So. Where do we start? Paper or digital?"

"Paper for all the harder stuff," she said. "Digital for what was already readily available."

"Great. I've got to run a final this afternoon, but I'll see you after that."

* * *

With all the stress flying around, it was easy to forget that there was some seriously good news on the horizon - up until Miles and Kamala sent out texts to the X-Men and Avengers they were closest to with pictures of their newest addition to the family.

Little Nadiya had come slightly early, but she was still the sweetest thing anyone had seen in a long time. She was somehow completely bald, and she was under observation at the NICU for a possible heart flutter, but once she was given a clean bill of health, the celebrations began.

Kate even flew out to LA to congratulate her favorite author - and to shower her with baby gifts, since all of the things Miles and Kamala had kept from Bashir were for boys. And Kate was of the opinion that every baby girl needed to be _coated_ in purple at all times.

"Really, Kate?" Kamala laughed when she saw Miles carrying in the _huge_ box that Kate had brought with her - via bamf, since it was too heavy to transport by herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I was going to do anything _halfway_?" Kate asked, blinking innocently.

Kamala laughed. "Um, I've _met_ you. No one thinks that, Kate."

"Oh, good," Kate said, smiling as she sat down next to Kamala so she could peer over her shoulder at the little girl. "Oh, Lord. Kurt's going to have a fit."

"Of course he is. She's perfect," Kamala said, kissing the top of Nadiya's head.

"She is," Kate agreed. "But he's going to see me all _verklempt_ and assume that means he's getting his way and getting more little ones."

"Um, isn't your oldest chasing a boy all the way to Europe?"

"Yeah, I tried to tell him I have my hands full, but his response was that the whole senior team is dealing with this new weapons nonsense and he still manages to want another, so…"

"Um, that totally doesn't count," Kamala said, wrinkling her nose. "He doesn't have to do the work."

"See, that's what _I_ tried to tell him."

"I can remind him if you need the help," Kamala offered - completely sincerely, too.

"Aww, I love you too," Kate said, squeezing Kamala's arm before she shrugged lightly and sighed. "We'll have to wait and see what happens with this weapons stuff before we can really do anything anyway. The way our luck runs, we'll be too busy for Kurt to get his hopes up for too long anyway."

"You know you've got me for backup for whatever you need," Kamala promised. "Baby stuff, weapons stuff…"

"You just focus on Nadiya," Kate said with a fond smile. "But thanks, Miss Marvel. You really are the best hero around."


	5. Collateral

It was just a few days before Christmas when Nolan caught up with Elin in the barn. With the high numbers of kids around, she'd made it a point to cover the chores for her mother and was reading in her spare time in the loft of the barn where no one would bother her. He was grinning when he showed up and pulled out one of the blankets that he knew Elin's mother kept tucked away in the barn and took a seat next to her, covering both of them up before he automatically pulled her closer.

"So, I'm getting ready to head out," he said. "And I wanted to make sure you got your gift before Christmas day, so …" He reached into his jacket pocket and simply handed her a box, about the size of his palm, that was neatly wrapped.

"You really didn't have to do that," Elin said, smirking crookedly. "Yours is under the tree."

"Yeah, well. I wanted to," Nolan said before he stole a kiss that definitely went on longer than she was expecting. He grinned wider as he gestured for her to go ahead, though he kept one hand on her knee as he stuck tight to her.

Elin raised an eyebrow at him but shook her head and unwrapped it, only to freeze when she saw that it was a velvet box - and then she hesitated a moment longer before she opened it to find a _ring,_ of all things. "What ….."

"It's a promise ring," Nolan told her, still grinning. "Like a step before an engagement."

She went pale and quickly snapped the box shut. "I can't take it."

"Why not?" he asked, looking positively confused.

"Because … _no_ ," she said, shaking her head as she pushed it back into his hands. He continued to stare at her, his expression shifting from confused to angry. "I can't accept it, Nolan. I'm nowhere near … no." She pushed away from him and got to her feet. "You can't just spring something like that …." She shook her head and started out of the loft, her cheeks bright red against her still-pale complexion. And she didn't wait for him to respond, either, truly not too concerned on if he got mad and just … stopped seeing her at that point.

There was no reason, in her mind, to think that something that _serious_ was coming from him. No matter how he tried to frame it … just a baby step before something more serious … it flat out made her uncomfortable, and she was going to try to follow those instincts when they popped up instead of ignoring them like she had been. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure what Rachel would have to say about it when she talked to her, but … there it was anyhow.

When she got inside, Charlie and Chance were hanging out together with some hot cocoa and chatting. Charlie got hit with all of the emotions coming off of Elin and quickly got to her feet to run to where Elin was. "What happened? You're a mess; come sit down."

"Nothing important," Elin grumbled, though she let Charlie pull her over.

"You're shocked and shaken and upset," Charlie pointed out as she sat down. "What scared you that bad?"

"It doesn't really matter now," Elin said, taking a moment to close her eyes and work on her breathing. "Just … a very unwanted gift."

"So, who do I need to hit?" Chance offered.

Elin glanced up at him as if she had just realized he was there. "No one. It … isn't really a hittable offense."

Kade had somehow slipped into the room and grinned when he saw Elin, rushing over to her as fast as he could. "I _saw_ it. I saw what your boyfriend got for you before he wrapped it, and _I call being the ringbearer_ ," he declared happily, grinning up at her and wrapping his arms around her legs in a hug.

"What the hell?" Chance blurted out, looking like Kade had knocked all the breath out of him.

Elin looked completely miserable and was pale all over again. "No - Kade … it was not an engagement ring - and I refused it, okay? Oh my God."

"But I want to be the ringbearer!" Kade insisted with his lower lip pushed out.

"Kade, it's not happening," Chance said with a little more sharpness to his tone than he'd meant to use.

"I'm only fifteen anyhow," Elin said, still sounding like the wind was out of her sails. "No."

Kade let out a long breath of obvious disappointment before he finally shrugged. "Okay. Maybe when you're bigger," he decided before he grinned, hopped up on the couch to kiss her cheek, and then rushed off, cackling to himself.

Chance was glaring a bit after Kade, but Charlie looked honestly relieved as she leaned over to hug Elin. "I'm glad you didn't take it," she whispered to Elin. "I know you don't want that. I'm glad you didn't let him push you - and that you're not stringing him along."

"He got mad, too," Elin said as she hugged her back. "I thought I might have to kick the crap out of him for a second, but that would probably have been a harsh 'no', wouldn't it?"

"Not really," Chance muttered.

"It was my fault," Elin said, letting all her breath out at once.

"No way," Chance said quickly.

"It really kind of was, Chance," Elin told him.

"Unless you asked him to buy you a ring for Christmas… no."

She gave him a little smile and shook her head. "Such faith," Elin said quietly.

"Hey, if I can't believe in my best friend, I'm the one with a problem," Chance said.

"I've been horrible at sticking to my boundaries," Elin admitted. "And I've let him push me. So, yes. It is my fault."

Chance blinked at her for a moment, but his sister was the one to rescue him. "But you set this boundary," Charlie said. "And you won't let him cross it."

"No way in hell," Elin agreed.

"I'm really glad to hear it," Charlie said with a smile. "Stand up for yourself."

"I hope Rachel has the same take on it," Elin said, leaning into Charlie.

"I can twist her arm if she gives you flack," Charlie said. "But I doubt she'll give you a hard time for finally setting him back."

"Yeah, well … pretty sure I screwed this one up pretty good either way," Elin said. "Which … is fine. Whatever."

"Hey, if you want a girls night…" Charlie smiled. "I don't have an idiot boy, so I'm pretty free."

"I don't know. I was almost thinking about asking Mom and Dad to take us out for the holiday," she admitted. "Probably give a few people fits though if we disappear this close."

"Why don't we go riding," Chance suggested. "That way, we don't have to separate your sister and Krissy's brother from giving everyone fits and kisses under the mistletoe."

"So she hasn't started wearing the hat yet, huh?" Elin said with one eyebrow raised.

Chance grinned her way. "That sounds like she's saving it for Christmas Eve."

"I may or may not have helped her make it," Elin admitted.

He grinned even wider. "Course you did," he said before he got to his feet and offered her a hand up. "Come on. There's not too much snow that we can't go for a ride."

She nodded slowly. "Alright then," she agreed. "No saddles though, alright?"

"Fine by me," he said as they headed out.

* * *

After the holidays were over, it was time to get back to the semester, though while Charlie and Cody had gone right to Muir Island, Chance and Krissy had decided to take a quick detour the weekend before classes started and spend a day skiing.

They took the _Shanghai_ out to the slopes, and Chance even let her fly for a while just so he could lean his chin on her shoulder and 'help'.

But when it came to actually skiing, Krissy had a leg up. The tail was great for balance - and she ended up using it more often to mess with Chance when they got close enough than anything else.

But eventually, they did get cold and grabbed some coffee and cinnamon rolls, warming up by the fireplace at the main lodge.

"Kade hasn't stopped mourning his missed opportunity to be a ringbearer," Krissy said with a smirk.

"Your brother is ridiculous," Chance said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but it's kind of nice to know she _didn't_ agree to anything stupid, you know?"

Chance let out all his breath at once. "He's still ridiculous."

"Uh, yeah. Obviously. Mom keeps threatening to play the 'learn how to control yourself' lecture while he sleeps so he learns by, like, osmosis or whatever."

"Think it would work?"

"Ugh. Don't tell me you're on the same side as my _mother_."

"Hey, I just asked a simple question."

"Don't even look at me right now," Krissy said, waving her hand at him.

Chance shook his head at her with a smile before he leaned over and kissed her. "Can't stop, sorry."

Krissy grinned at him and kissed him too, but she had to pause and shake her head at him. "It's still weird getting used to the blonde."

"Hey, it was the only way I could get permission for this," Chance pointed out.

"Oh, I know; it's just weird. It feels like I'm kissing someone else," Krissy said, shaking her head.

Chance grinned at her. "Don't worry. I won't tell me that you're cheating on me."

"Oh my gosh, Chance."

"You're the one that brought it up."

"And I regret it so much."

He grinned a little wider at her and kissed her again before they finally decided to get back to the slopes and started pulling on their gloves and hats again. They'd hardly made it outside, though, before the two of them were surprised by several large men closing around them.

Chance lashed out at the first guy who made a grab for him, but he was surprised when, instead of the expected _bamf_ of Krissy getting them _out_ of the circle, he glanced over to see that she was simply… limp.

"Krissy!" He had to knock one of the guys over when he got in between Chance and Krissy as the group of men started to carry her off. He managed to get to another one of them to pull him back, but it seemed like there were more of them than he'd realized as more and more skiers turned out to be in on it.

One of them managed to get a hand on the back of Chance's jacket and simply yanked him backward. The next thing he knew, he had been tossed aside, skidding in the snow. He stayed down, and when the guys didn't come to finish him off or drag him off too, he knew the attack had to have been targeted to Krissy.

And the flash of red that he saw on one of the guys that he'd managed to get a solid hit on told him just who it was.

Thankfully, these creeps were more focused on running off with Krissy than they were on making sure the kid they'd just tossed aside stayed down, so he managed to follow them down the mountain, expecting to have to drop his tracer on a car or jet or something and call it in. Instead, the group of them were moving around to the other side of the mountain, far from the slopes, to where the ridges were more treacherous and there were even a few caves.

He waited until he knew which cave the creeps had disappeared to before he finally reached down and hit his panic button - and followed it up with a call to Kurt's cell phone, since he deserved to know what was up.

"Those cultists are back, and they ran off with Krissy," Chance explained, a bit more out of breath than he had realized. "I found the hideout but I … there's too many of them."

"Send your coordinates," Kurt replied.

"I already hit the panic button, so just… follow that," Chance replied, edging a little closer to try and peer into the cave, though he'd barely gotten the words out before there was a muted _bamf_ , and Kurt and K appeared beside him. He tipped his head toward the cave. "There were a couple dozen on the slopes, but I don't know how many are in there," he admitted.

"Only one matters," K said, already heading for the mouth of the cave.

Once they were inside, none of them were entirely surprised by the setup. It was fairly similar to the one they had found in the library in Salem Center, though obviously with the glaring exception of a wide-eyed Krissy tied up and looking petrified in the center of the red-robed circle.

Once they'd seen Krissy, they didn't really need to know anything else, and both Kurt and K burst forward to simply cut through the cultists. Chance figured there had to be some kind of dampener in play or Krissy would have teleported, so he just darted forward once there was an opening in the circle and grabbed Krissy to get her out of there, trusting Kurt and K to deal with the cultists while he cut her loose.

"You hurt?" he asked her once he'd cut the ropes, and she shook her head but buried her face in his shoulder - so he figured he'd just carry her out while the adults did their thing.

They didn't have to wait too long, either, since, like K had said, the only thing that mattered was getting Krissy out - and an instant later, Kurt had destroyed whatever was holding back their powers and teleported them both outside the cave. He paused just long enough to check that Krissy was alright - and then all four of them were in Westchester.

"What happened?" Kurt asked, his eyes narrowed and his tail twitching as he was still clearly irritated with the fact that someone had tried to grab his little girl.

Chance glanced down at Krissy, who was still more or less hooked with her arms around his shoulders, and let out a breath. "We got ambushed," he said. "They knocked her out before she could 'port us out."

"You'll need to tell your father about this; I'll take care of her," Kurt swore before he took over on Krissy and K took Chance's arm to head to where Scott was watching in the War Room.

Chance quickly relayed to Scott what he'd told Kurt and then bit his lip, turning to K. "What were they doing, anyway?" he asked.

"They were doing what Azazel had tried to do - restore his power," she said, looking up at Scott. "You remember when Kari lost her color?"

Scott raised an eyebrow but nodded. "So, how bad was it? Are we dealing with another blue elf?"

"No," K said, shaking her head. "He could do it because he was drawing his stored powers into himself. These idiots … Let me go back and see if they have any survivors."

"It would be better if you brought Wiccan with you," Scott said. "In case there aren't - he could tell you what any of the ramifications could be."

"Yes, good. We need to get coffee afterward anyhow," K agreed. "Though I was hoping there was one … so I can track the little slimeball back to whatever hole he came out of."

"Priority's information on the spell. I want to know if we can counter it to keep Krissy safe," Scott said. "And Kade - all things considered."

"Sure. Billy for the spell, me for the dirty work."

"Try not to scar Wiccan, please," Scott said dryly.

"He's Magneto's grandson. He's going to be hard to scar."

Scott met her gaze for a moment and then couldn't help but smirk. "K. Try not to scar Wiccan, please."

"I'll buy him coffee," she defended, which just had Scott shaking his head before she headed off to go meet up with Billy.

Wiccan, of course, was less than amused when he heard what had happened. "That's not going to help them," he said in an exasperated tone, though he was already forming his cape with a wordless spell so they could head out. "It's specific to him - _they_ can't extract any power from those kids!"

"Sweetheart, we know," K said, sure to sound just as exasperated as he did. "We are trying to stop the stupid and make sure that the girl is okay. She is drugged, alright? But you and I - we have things to do."

"We certainly do," Billy agreed. "Where were they?"

She grinned at him for just a moment. " _Sverige._ "

An instant later, Billy had transported the two of them to where the cultists had taken Krissy, and he looked around at the various inscriptions and runes with a look of distaste. "Oh, now they're mixing in Celtic? That has _nothing_ to do with … it won't help!"

K shook her head at him but focused instead on her own appointed task of sussing out whether or not anyone had escaped her or Kurt while they were getting Krissy out, leaving Billy to his growing frustration with the cult.

"Space pants, you're hovering," K said when she returned from her tracking efforts with fresh blood half frozen to her fingertips.

Billy let out a little noise and made a dismissive motion with his hand. "They are _so_ close to real power here, but they're so impatient they're mangling it," he said. "If they ever move on from Azazel, they could be a real threat."

She nodded. "The guy I found was already more or less dead, but he had a tattoo of Azazel's mark on his chest. I think they're committed."

"Yes, I don't see them being a threat beyond this level of _irritation_ ," Billy said, shaking his head. "But I got rid of the demon king for a reason - so Kate's kids could be _safe_. This is just…." He let out another noise of frustration as he gestured at the whole cave before he finally had to shake his head. "It just annoys me when I clean up a mess and people try to undo my good work, that's all. This was the _first_ thing I did after becoming the Demiurge in another world."

She patted his arm and nodded her head. "Right. We'll just have to keep trashing their hopes and dreams."

"I've mentioned how much I love the lack of crazy future visions since you decided to do… whatever it is you're _not_ doing, right?"

"I'm not doing anything," she replied with a smile. "But you may have mentioned it once or twice." She tipped her head toward the mouth of the cave. "Come on now; I promised Scott that I'd take you to _fika._ "

* * *

Chance had gotten a little bamf assistance to go get the _Shanghai_ where they'd left it - and still beat Krissy back to Muir Island. He wasn't entirely surprised, since she had been out of it when they picked her up, but that just had him more worried about Krissy.

So when she showed up that night looking more or less back to normal, he crossed the room in a few strides to wrap her up in a warm hug. "You doing okay?"

She nodded lightly. "Hank gave me something to counteract whatever they gave me," she explained.

"Yeah, but - are you doing okay?" Chance asked without stepping back from her, tipping his head down a bit to catch her gaze. "Really."

"More angry than anything else," she admitted. "We didn't get to finish our ski trip - and it sounds like they're not going to stop being stupid anytime soon."

"Yeah, but if it makes you feel any better, Wiccan went all offended demigod and went on and on about how they're not going to make it work."

"Yeah, I heard," Krissy assured him. "I'm not … _really_ worried about Azazel coming back. I just… hate everything related to him."

"Well, that's a given," Chance said, nodding along seriously. He leaned over and kissed her again. "I'm glad you're okay, though."

"I'm glad you are too," Krissy said.

"They weren't after me," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but the last time Azazel-related crap came up, my best friend got dropped in an ocean, so I think I'm allowed to worry about the people I love, okay?" Krissy shot back.

Chance grinned and kissed her. "Hey, I'm used to being collateral."

At that, though, Krissy made a frustrated noise and poked him in the chest. "You are _so_ not-"

"Yeah, but it got you all huffy," he said, breaking in before she could start reading him the riot act.

"It's really not funny," she insisted.

Chance shook his head and couldn't help but kiss her. "Good to see you feeling better."


	6. Dirty Little Secrets

Classes started up in Westchester just ahead of a fresh blizzard, which was kind of aesthetically pleasing to Elin anyhow. All traces of the old year were covered over with a couple feet of fresh snow, and all of the trails that led in and out of the forests around the school were swept clean. It was the very best part of a blizzard after all — how fresh and untouched everything looked once the wind died down.

And though the wind was gone, the snow kept coming in big, puffy flakes that were relaxing to watch out of the windows while she should have been paying attention to her math. She wasn't even with it enough to hear the bell ring, so wrapped up in watching the snow that Scott had to prompt her to move along.

She gave him an almost sheepish grin as she gathered up her books and slipped out of the classroom, only to nearly run face-first into Nolan, who, of course, was waiting for her. "I was hoping to catch you," he said, offering his arm to her as he kept close.

She gave him a tight sort of smile, and, after a moment, she took his arm and tried to get moving to her next class. "Why did you want to catch me?" she asked, frowning at his wording.

"I … thought I should apologize for springing that on you. I got wrapped up. Shouldn't have done it," he said, though to her, she could still smell a slight tang of anger mixed into the rest of his scent.

But she ignored it for the time being and simply nodded before he pulled her into a little alcove and then into a kiss that she absolutely was not expecting. She put a hand on his chest and pushed to get him to back off, and though he did, he didn't seem to want to take his hands off of her — regardless of where they were or who was around.

She didn't say much about it or argue with him about it for the first day or so, thinking that he'd knock it off once he realized she wasn't still stuck on the ring issue, but the closer they got to the weekend, the worse he got. And she was starting to get mad about it.

He pulled his little trick of yanking her into a hidden corner — _again_ — but when he leaned in to kiss her, she avoided him with a growl. "You need to stop. I don't mind a little assertiveness, but you're not listening to me."

Nolan shook his head and reached up to hold her head still while he kissed her anyhow, but that was definitely over the line, and she wasn't having it at all.

Half a second later, she'd hauled back, punched him in the throat, and kicked him across the hall, sending him sprawling even if he wasn't truly injured. "Touch me again, and you won't get it back," Elin growled out. "I tried to be nice. I tried to let you down easy … but you just … ugh."

She spun on her heel and stalked off, growling low the whole way to Scott's office, where she knocked politely and then nearly stormed in when he told her it was open.

"I just wanted to let you know that I got into a fight," Elin said, hands on her hips and still looking like someone was gonna get it.

Scott had clearly not been expecting that, and he looked up at Elin with his eyebrows high on his head. "What happened?"

"Nolan didn't want to take 'back off' for an answer, so I punched him in the throat and kicked him across the hall," she explained. "He's probably still there."

Scott's shoulders relaxed, and he looked back down at what he was doing. "Oh. Well, that's not a fight. You're fine. That's just him learning a life lesson."

"I beat the crap out of him," she said, looking a little surprised at his non-reaction.

"He didn't take no for an answer?"

She shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Then I don't see the problem here," Scott said simply.

She stood there for a long moment, frowning slightly, before she finally took a step back. "Okay then," Elin said slowly. "Do you have time later to go down to the Danger Room with me?"

"Sure. Can it wait until after the team practice I'm running for the senior squad?"

She nodded at that but didn't have anything to add, still in a little shock at him not punishing her for what felt like a repeated behavior.

Scott looked up at last from the intel he had been reading and shot her a small smile. "Actually, I'm glad to hear it. I know Charlie tries to look out for pushy guys, and she's been worried," he said before he got to his feet and pulled her into a hug. "I'm just sorry he upset you — I'm not sorry he got what he deserved."

"You're really biased; you know that, right?" she said into his shirt as she hugged him back.

"Hey, if it had been James pushing a girl, I'd be sitting here telling him he got what he deserved when she beat him up," he pointed out.

"He wouldn't do that," she said with a little smirk.

"No, but I'm just saying — you did what you were supposed to."

"Thank you," she told him, giving him one more squeeze before he let her go. "I'll meet you in the booth after your session, if that's alright."

"See you then."

* * *

The junior squad was getting ready for another mission together, once more looking into the cult, though this was a smaller group than the ones they had dealt with before. That was a relief for Krissy to hear, since she was still a little wary of dealing with these guys and had even asked to wear an inhibitor so she wouldn't get targeted this time.

It wasn't like the rest of the team didn't wear masks — since Scott wanted the kids to be able to have normal lives regardless of whether or not they were on the team, and since Chance and Elin both needed to stay off of people's radars. So Scott hadn't argued in the least — and Krissy was ready to go once she was blonde and Chance had teased her about cheating on her with … her.

And actually, it hadn't been that bad — the cultists had scattered when the team showed up, and it was actually pretty cathartic to burn down some of their creepy magic stuff.

Krissy had just stamped out some of the last embers of some burned up old scrolls before she dropped beside Elin and shook her head. "I'm really starting to hate these guys," she said.

"Well, they are kind of asking you to," she pointed out reasonably.

"They… really kind of are," Krissy admitted, watching Sying blow up a few more artifacts as the boys seemed to be enjoying the destructive part of the mission. "But hey, the boys get to blow off steam."

"We have to let them do something so that they feel like they're helping," Elin said with a nod, turning her head to look for any incoming trouble.

Krissy leaned back a bit. "Plus, I think Chance might still be mad at them too," she said. "Shoved him around, carried me off…"

"Yeah, he holds a grudge," she agreed.

"It hit all the white knight buttons," Krissy giggled.

"Which is exactly what _you_ want out of a guy, darling damsel," Elin teased.

"Oh, obviously," Krissy said, smiling toward the boys, who were now joking around with each other, before she turned back Elin's way and hit her shoulder with her own. "You're in a good mood, Ellie."

"Well, I didn't get in trouble for getting in a fight. That has a way of lightening me up a little bit."

Krissy sat up straighter. "What?"

Elin waved one hand. "Not important."

"Umm, yes it is, because if there are people that need stabbing…"

"I am perfectly capable of stabbing them _myself_ ," Elin pointed out before she leaned over and bumped her back. "But I appreciate the thought."

"Hey, sometimes I like being the knight instead of the damsel," Krissy laughed. "Seriously. Can't I at least give whoever it was dirty looks? I feel like I'm failing my best friend duties."

"You mean _more_ dirty looks?" Elin asked.

Krissy raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You and Nolan had a fight?"

"Not exactly. I had a punching session."

"Well, yeah, you can wipe the floor with him, obviously, but _Ellie_."

"What?" Elin said, turning back her way. "You didn't like him anyhow."

"No, I didn't, but… what happened? I thought you were set on screwing around and I was never going to change your mind and then all of a sudden you drop this on me and…."

"Which … was kind of what was happening, until he decided that was _all_ we were going to do. And he didn't want to back off when I told him to. So …" She planted her fist in the opposite palm. "Throat punch. Kicked him across the hall. That's it."

Krissy stared at her for a moment before she broke into a smile. "I'm so sorry, Elin," she said, even though she was smiling wider.

"Why?"

"That's a required line when your best friend has a breakup, I think. I've checked it off the checklist, so I can be happy he's gone now, right?" Krissy asked, grinning even wider.

"You were happy before that, and you know I would _never_ stand in the way of someone's happiness."

Krissy just laughed and then hugged her friend. "You really are the best. You know that, right? And I'm excited for you to move on from Mr. Handsy and find someone you _like_."

"Right," Elin said, shaking her head. "I'll just be waiting around forever. It's fine."

"Oh please," Krissy said, waving her hand. "You are the second prettiest girl our age. After me, of course. You'll find someone sweet and wonderful and not at all pushy in no time."

"I don't want to," Elin said, shaking her head. "I'm _this close_ to asking your dad for that list of convents."

"He would throw a party," Krissy told her, one eyebrow quirked up. "But then we'd have to change your codename."

"I don't _have_ a codename."

"I know. We need to fix that too," Krissy agreed. "That's our next thing. We'll focus on boys later."

"I don't want to focus on boys," Elin said, shaking her head. "I got mixed up with this one because I got bored."

"Oh, well, that's just unacceptable. If you're ever bored, _call me_."

"You're busy," she replied.

Krissy grinned at her. "Yes, I am, but still. I like to be the knight sometimes, remember?"

"Nope, not getting in the way of you rescuing your knight," Elin said. "I'll figure it out."

"Actually, he did the rescuing this time," Krissy said.

"This time."

"No offense, Ellie, but I hope it stays that way, because the Summers problems tend to be… _awful._ " She grinned at Elin. "I like saving you from boredom better."

"If I ever get that bored again, I'm jumping off a cliff."

"Oh, don't do that," Krissy said seriously. "At least go tease the Lee twins or something! They _need_ someone they can't read messing with them."

"I'll think about it," Elin said before she let out a whistle for the boys to move on.

* * *

Sying was still in a good mood after getting to blow some things up on the mission to bust up some cultists, and he wanted to share the good mood — so when he found Penny curled up with the book they were reading for Kate's class, he climbed onto the couch with her and grinned at her.

"How far are you?" he asked.

"Chapter twelve."

"Great; we only need the first ten for class," he said, grinning even wider, though when he shifted closer and moved to kiss her, she turned back to the book, and he stopped, his eyebrows raised. "What's up?"

Penny took in a breath and let it out through her nose before she put a bookmark in her place and then turned to face Sying. "Did you know _Dr. McCoy_ knows what we've been up to?"

Sying bit his lip and then nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Super sniffer. And it's not like we've been sneaking around anymore," he pointed out, trying to pull a smile out of her with one of his own, but when that still didn't work, he tipped his head to the side. "What, did he say something to you?"

"He just pointed out that we were young," Penny said.

"Yeah, I got that too," Sying said. He watched her for a moment, the frown still in place. "Look, if you're not comfortable, we don't have to do anything like that — we can just go dancing or something."

Penny bit her lip before she shook her head, looking fairly upset herself. "I don't want to — I don't want to have to worry about what all the teachers — I don't like being in the spotlight," she said, not quite forming the thought or able to meet Sying's gaze. "Your whole family knows _everything_ we get up to, and I … don't … I'm not comfortable with that."

Sying's expression fell as he watched the way Penny was shifting in her seat. "Is it just because they're the staff here? Because… I can ask them to back off or something."

Penny shook her head. "This was more fun when it was just us," she said. "Now it's like the whole school has an opinion."

Sying stared at her. "Penny…"

She got to her feet and took her book with her. "I'm really sorry, Sying," she said - which was true, she was definitely crying, which wasn't helping things at all when he wanted to take her dancing to cheer her up. "I hope you find someone who can handle the spotlight, but I just… can't," she said before she ducked her head and hurried off, leaving Sying sitting on the couch staring after her in pure shock.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there before he felt the overwhelming urge to get _out_ of the house. It had been the same when Chance and Krissy had started dating — but he was a little older now and wasn't going to leave without telling anyone where he was going. He'd learned his lesson twice over on that one.

So he made his way down to where he knew Elin would be down in the gym about that time of day — it was a habit for her at this point now that she didn't have Nolan occupying her time to let out some energy that way instead. He pushed open the door to find that she was, in fact, just doing her cool-down stretches, already sweaty and tired from what must have been a good workout. Which also meant it was later than he'd realized.

"Hi, Sying," Elin sang out. "Wanna run through the uneven bars with me? I kinda wanted to surprise your mom with some flipping skills."

"Not… really," Sying said, though as soon as he had opened his mouth to answer her, he felt hot tears start pouring down his cheeks and had to sit down as the emotions finally hit him instead of just the shock.

She froze for just an instant before she rushed over to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "What happened?"

"Penny broke up with me," he said quietly.

"What happened? Did she figure out you were prettier than her?"

Despite himself, Sying had to smile and shook his head. "She didn't want to date someone whose whole family gets involved… or something," he muttered.

"So she … wait. She's got a problem because people care about you? Or … is it a team thing and she takes issues with you being so amazingly heroic? I don't know which way to get mad here."

"She said she didn't want the spotlight," Sying explained. "You… you don't have to get mad at her." He tried to wipe at his face quickly. "It's not fair — I mean — it's _not_ — but… but we grew up with the whole school on our side. I guess that's a lot of pressure."

"That's a crap excuse, and you know it."

Sying let his shoulders drop and leaned into Elin a little more as he nodded. "I really liked her, Elin," he mumbled into her shirt.

"I know. And I'm sorry for that," she replied, snuggling up with him.

Sying let himself cry for a little bit longer, glad that Elin was there, before he finally tried to get a hold of himself a little more. "I want… I was going to go for a while," he mumbled at last.

"Where did you want to go? I'm sure Moira would let you in for a little while. Just to breathe."

"Maybe," Sying said with a nod. "I just… maybe … I was thinking someplace more tropical. Like that island the Wagners own or the atoll in the Pacific."

"Alex in Hawaii is always a good option, and he bends over backwards to be the cool Summers."

"He does," Sying said with a smirk. "Maybe I'll find him after I clear my head, but I just want to have a good freakout, really. Throw some fireworks over the ocean or something."

"Please, don't forget a few tracers and all the bells and whistles." Elin smiled at him almost sadly. "Wish I could go with you, but I'm on like … bad decisions watch."

Sying smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, me too. That's why I wanted to tell someone first," he admitted. "I promise: I'm not going to space, and I'll bring the panic button and everything. I just want some air. So I don't… hit something."

"Check in, please."

"Definitely. I don't want my favorite aunt to worry," Sying agreed before he wiped his face with the back of his hand and straightened up. He gave her another quick hug and then headed out, sure to grab a comm while he was at it.


	7. Cody Makes A Deal

Sying was actually grateful for the chance to unwind on the Wagners' island. Kate had told him that he could stay there as long as he wanted, and there was a hammock in a prime location for him to sit out in the sun and listen to music and relax.

He had wanted to be mad, of course, but he couldn't quite seem to manage that. Instead, it was more that he was disappointed. Penny had been his first real girlfriend, and he really had fallen for her in a way that he hadn't thought he would able to do with someone who wasn't Krissy.

She had been exactly what he needed. She was fun, and she thought he was sweet and cute, and he knew his ship approved of her — and he wasn't sure what else he could have done. He couldn't help being miserable, because if this was going to be a problem…

It just wasn't fair that having the big family he did meant he was under the microscope when he fell in love.

Still, it had been good to get away for a while, even if he had no plans of dragging it out and being out there for more than a couple days. It had only been overnight so far, and he was already starting to feel better having slept on it and spending the rest of the next day letting off a little steam with a good run and some music to fit his mood, with plasmoids to the beat over the ocean just because he could.

But he wasn't going to spend much longer than that feeling sorry for himself. Because if there was one thing he _had_ learned from Penny, it was that he was actually very cute — and he was pretty sure he could try again.

Not immediately, obviously. He had _very_ bad rebound taste. Sell-you-into-slavery bad taste. But he wasn't under the same delusion Elin was that he wasn't going to ever find _anyone_.

So, he had planned to head back out across the ocean — and maybe stop somewhere to grab something sweet to recharge on the way — but that more or less evaporated when he heard the low hum of a jet of some kind and cracked one eye open from where he was lying on the hammock with his hands behind his head.

He couldn't _see_ anything, but he could hear it. Stealth tech, then.

"Oh come on," he said to no one in particular as he sat up in the hammock. "Can't a guy get any time to himself without trouble like this?"

Almost in answer, Sying head the hiss of a mechanical door opening, and he looked toward the sound in time to see a few men in uniforms that he recognized as Russian step out of seemingly nothing. He jumped to his feet and would have hit his comm if not for the net that burst out of the trees nearby, knocking him over faster than he could react — and since he could move _fast_ , he was sure that meant there was a dampener up.

The net sparked for an instant, and before Sying could maneuver to hit the panic button in his pocket, the electric arc simply knocked him out cold.

When he woke up again, he wasn't anywhere close to the Wagners' island — not that he had expected to be, considering he had seen the Russian uniforms before. It was nice not to wake up in one of those sensory deprivation tanks, though — but that was the only good thing he could say about his situation.

He could taste the familiar tang of adrenaline when he realized that he was wearing a collar again, but he was also tied down and couldn't move. There were a couple Russian soldiers off to the side, and to the opposite side, he looked over to see _Jana_.

Or… Sinister. The woman looked less and less like herself every time they saw her, growing paler, letting her hair grow out, with redder eyes than before.

Sying narrowed his eyes her way as he considered her. He knew from his family that Sinister used to attach himself to programs like this so he'd have access to mutants, but… Sying was half-Kree. And not just that but half-interdimensional, genetically-altered Kree. Sinister hadn't really cared about his immediate family before.

So, he turned away from Sinister and toward the two Russian soldiers to bear his teeth and let out a hiss their way. "Guess you want me to trash this place too," he said through his teeth. After all, might as well give them a solid middle finger when he didn't have anything else to offer to fight them with.

But to his surprise, that just got a cold smile out of one of the officers. "The destruction of our previous operation is precisely what makes you such a valuable asset," he said.

"Yeah, I'm a real catch," Sying said dryly.

The Russian officer simply tipped his head toward Sinister, who was smirking the slightest bit before she sang out in an odd sort of mix of Jana and Sinister's voices, " _You will answer all the questions put to you fully._ " Sinister paused to watch Sying glare for a moment before she asked, "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Sying said, though as upset as he was, he had to smirk when the two Russian officers answered too and then looked disturbed by it.

Sinister smirked to herself before she gave the two officers a quick command that they didn't have to answer. Sying was pretty sure she'd done it just to show that she was the one running things, even if they were in a Russian base.

"When were the X-Men expecting you to return?" Sinister asked.

Sying tried not to answer, but the only resistance he got up was the fact that he'd started to hiss, and it came out in his answers, elongating his s's. "I didn't say."

"But they'll notice your disappearance somehow. A scheduled check-in, perhaps?"

Sying glared at her. "Yeah."

"How often?"

"Daily."

"When was your last check-in?"

"About an hour before these guys showed up," Sying admitted, though he was _trying_ not to. He had the same problem his dad had with the Purple Man, though — he was sensitive to sound, and the whole command was a verbal assault on the same lines as that guy had used. He could hardly even clench his teeth or try to give an evasive answer.

Sinister nodded and then looked up at the Russian officers. "Then we have plenty of time," she told the two of them. Both of them nodded their agreement before she looked back down to Sying. "Now," she said, her expression shifting into something more malicious. "Tell me what the different children at that miserable little school are capable of."

Sying tried not to answer, but that lasted for maybe a second before he found himself telling Sinister — and the Russians — everything. _Everything_. From the older kids like Nolan with his invulnerability and Penny with her ability to armor herself to the younger kids like Zoe Barton with her shapeshifting powers and Kaleb Wagner's teleporting and Michael Summers' metal manipulation…. All of it.

As soon as the Russians had their list, they stepped out of the room, leaving Sying alone with Sinister. "And now for the real question of the hour," she said, her eyes glittering. "Where is the Summers boy hidden away?"

Sying was really starting to feel miserable as he shook his head lightly. "There's a few Summers boys." He was trying to fight it, and after talking about everyone in the school, he was at least starting to get _some_ handle on evasion.

"The one that belongs to Scott," Sinister clarified, looking irritated at the attempt to slow her down.

"Which one?" Sying ended up asking — which was sort of evasive too but also necessary to the question.

Sinister looked livid. "I have no interest in Cable. Where is the other one?"

Sying almost smirked. "Which one?"

But at that, Sinister's eyes widened, and Sying knew the jig was up. "Both of them."

Sying frowned as he suddenly realized his glib response had given away too much. Half the reason Chance was on lockdown was that Sinister thought he was dead, and Sying had just blown his cover! "They… they're at Muir Island," he said despite the best effort yet to bite his tongue.

"And the twin girl?"

Sying swallowed and nodded. "They're there. All three of them."

The smile that began to stretch across her face was truly menacing the longer it went on. "You've been very helpful."

"Bite me."

Sinister chuckled. "Well then, why don't you tell me if Wolverine's boy is being hidden away as well — and where I can find him."

Sying was shaking his head even as he answered. "I hope you find him," he spit out. "He's with Bruce Banner at his lab, and the Hulk could use the five second exercise tearing you apart."

She considered him for a moment, then shook her head before sweeping from the room and gesturing to the men standing just inside to deal with Sying. As for Sying, he held the glare just until she left before he let out all his breath in frustration. His friends were in trouble now, and he couldn't even warn them.

* * *

Cody and Chance both were dead to the world asleep in their room after they'd spent the day out at the shooting range with Brian Braddock — which had been a blast, literally and figuratively. But after that, they'd headed in and barely even changed out of the clothes that still smelled like gun oil and explosives before they were both out, so it took both of the boys a moment to process what was going on when the alarm went off.

The room that they were staying in had originally been one of the emergency lockdown rooms, so whatever assault was going on outside, it had triggered the emergency measures, sealing the door and locking them both in.

The boys glanced at each other for a moment before both of them went to get the guns that they had stored nearby to load them and wait — and Chance tried calling Charlie on her cell to make sure she was okay. He had to try twice, though, because she'd had the same thought, and they ended up getting each other's voicemail before they connected.

Cody watched Chance for a moment before his older brother hung up the phone and nodded. "She's locked down too. She says the whole school is scared, confused, and panicked." He paused. "And she says she knows who's coming."

Cody didn't even have to ask, considering the look on Chance's face. "She recognized Sinister's 'song', right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess now we test out how good the lockdown is," Cody said, gesturing toward the door with a tip of his head. "But I'm telling you now: if she gets through, I'm blasting her into next week."

"I'm right there with you," Chance agreed fervently. "I'll shoot her in the mouth so she can't stop us."

"Yeah, good," Cody said, though now that they knew who it was, he couldn't help but get up and pace a bit just to let out the excess energy.

As the two of them were prepping and holding their breath for a big fight, very suddenly, the locks on the doors clicked … and they began to open. No warning to the kids that all was clear, nothing to indicate anything had happened like Moira always was sure to do … they just … unlocked.

Still, for as odd as it all was, they weren't the least bit surprised when two men far too large to be normal stepped in to fill up the doorway. Both Chance and Cody were quick to react, more out of self-preservation instinct than anything else, with Chance shooting and Cody blasting the men back out of the doorway. They both hit their panic buttons, too, though considering how much was going on outside, they were sure the people who were set to respond were already _in_ the middle of it all.

"I don't see her," Cody said to Chance, which they both knew was bad, considering her stolen power sets.

" _Drop your weapons,"_ the Sinister-Jana tritone sang out. " _And don't move._ "

Both of the boys dropped their guns and froze, their eyes wide as Sinister finally made her presence known, looking overly smug at the two boys.

"You're not getting off this island," Cody snapped angrily. "So just… buzz off. Or don't. Stick around and get your butt kicked; see if we care."

She turned his way with a glare and crouched down to pick up one of the guns. "You sound so confident," she drawled out before she turned the weapon on Chance and fired — hitting him just above the knee.

Chance went down with a cry, and Cody swore loudly. "Leave him alone!"

"Such a mouth on you," Sinister said, tutting as she approached Chance. She sneered, then crouched down. "I'm tired of seeing this one turn up at the most inconvenient times. I thought for sure that this would be behind us."

Chance's eyes were wide, and he was obviously hurting, but he managed to spit out her way, "Took the words right out of my mouth."

She carefully wrapped her hands around Chance's throat and narrowed her eyes to slits. "Even with trained animals, it will never be done right unless I do it myself." She clenched her hands and leaned forward — clearly intent on choking the life out of him with her bare hands — and Chance couldn't do a thing to stop her.

Cody felt the same sort of numb anger as the last time he'd seen Sinister — and this time, he was _there_ to see in real time as his brother was killed. He was shaking all over again before he almost gasped, "Stop. Please — let him go."

"You're in no position to make demands or requests," she replied coolly, her gaze locked onto Chance's fear-filled one.

Cody was still shaking as he swallowed hard. "I swear. I _swear_. You kill him and I'll fight you every step. But…" He took a breath and looked at his brother, who had managed to get one hand up to push back out of sheer desperation, but it wasn't even making a dent. "Please. I won't fight you. At all. Just stop."

"A promise of cooperation," Sinister said thoughtfully, though she hadn't let Chance up either, and it was obvious he was starting to go limp. "If you break your word, I'll make you watch while every member of your family dies. Slowly."

"If you knew anything about my family, you'd know I won't break my word," Cody swore.

Sinister smirked as Chance's eyes fluttered. "Fine." She let go of him, and with a heavy gasp, Chance started coughing — the lines of red marks and bruises already clearly evident around his neck. She got to her feet without sparing Chance the slightest glance and tipped her head at Cody. "It's time to go."

Cody stared at Chance for a moment before he swallowed and nodded. "Alright."

Sinister swept past him, not looking back — trusting that Cody was going to cooperate rather than risk his brother. When they got to the exit, she spun on her heel. "Whatever devices you have on you — remove them. Now."

Cody was almost numb as he nodded and pulled his phone and panic button out of his pockets, as well as his glasses, holding them up for Sinister to see.

She took them, dropped them on the ground, and crushed all three beneath her heel. "Keep up, my boy."

* * *

As soon as the attack on Muir Island had begun, the X-Men had been alerted, and they were in the air in an instant, since there was a teleportation shield in place on the island. It only took half an hour to get there, but it was obvious once they arrived that things had not gone well.

Almost every member of the staff had been injured in some way or another, though thankfully, the students had been able to hide away from the action. But as the team split up to assess the damage, Scott was the one to run into Moira, who was simply beside herself for how upset she was.

"Moira? What happened?" Scott asked, though he already had a sinking feeling he knew.

She looked furious through her teary eyes as she drew herself up. "Sinister toolin' about in some wee lass's form." She shook her head, trying to temper the fire. "Stolen powers … I couldnae stop him."

Scott opened his mouth to try to reassure her for a moment but instead ended up simply running down the hall. He knew where his kids were in the residential areas, and he had to make sure they were okay.

He got to Charlie's room first, and his heart dropped when he realized that she wasn't there. He was about to turn around and leave to go to the boys' room when he heard a small noise, though, and he turned back to see the grate drop off of the air vent as Charlie poked her head out, looking incredibly pale and shaken but absolutely still alive.

He rushed over to pull her out of the vent the rest of the way and wrapped her up in a relieved hug as she hooked her arms around his neck.

"I knew she was coming, so I grabbed my music so I couldn't hear her," Charlie explained.

Scott pulled her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head. "That's my girl," he said. He kissed her forehead again before he started to get back up. "I'll be right back," he promised. "I just have to find your brothers."

He somehow wasn't surprised when Charlie followed him down the hall, though, holding onto the small little leather bag she grabbed from her bed stand.

The Marauders outside of Chance and Cody's room had obviously gotten on the wrong end of Chance's guns and Cody's optic blasts and were down for the count. But when they looked in the room itself, there was no sign of Cody, just Chance, who was pale — from the gunshot to his leg and the redness in his eyes and the bruises around his neck.

Scott could feel the bottom drop out of his stomach as he rushed over to Chance and almost missed it when Charlie whispered, "I'll find him," pulling the Amy pendant out of the leather bag.

Scott frowned Charlie's way for a moment, but when he saw the brief shudder move through her and then there was no other emotional breakdown or sign other than Charlie briefly nodding as she concentrated, he turned back to Chance and simply picked him up and headed down the hall.

Hank and Moira both were at the medical bay dealing with the staff — and a small number of students — who had been hurt when the Marauders came through. "Sinister took Cody," he told the two of them as he set Chance down, frowning at his son's bloodshot eyes and the rasp to every breath he was taking. "Charlie's working on finding him now."

Moira had backed away from where Hank had more or less taken over. Most of the staff's injuries amounted to bumps and scrapes, and the kids were more shaken up than anything, but once it was more or less under control, Moira couldn't quite keep her fury down. She knew that she needed some space and something to do other than focus on what she'd like to see happen to Sinister and his ilk, so with a determined expression, she breezed by the rest of the adults gathered to 'check the perimeter settings' in the security room.

"Dad," Chance said in a raspy voice, looking incredibly wide-eyed as he struggled to get the words out. "Dad, Cody…" He let out a heavy cough that drew Hank's attention as the blue-furred doctor made his way over, frowning over the unmistakable injuries, though Chance was halfway pushing Hank's arm away trying to talk to Scott. "Made a deal," he rasped out.

"What are you talking about?" Scott frowned.

"For me," Chance said, clearly upset.

Scott stared at Chance for a moment before he swore under his breath and then stepped back to let Hank attend to Chance a little better. "We'll get him out," he swore.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too much longer before Charlie came rushing down to the medical wing. "I know which way they went," she said, her eyes wide and her hands shaky, but it was clear she was determined. "I had to widen the focus, and I just have a direction, but I can direct us as we get closer."

Scott took a step toward her. "Charlie…"

Charlie shook her head quickly. "I've got it," she promised. "We have to find Cody. He's _so_ mad."

Scott frowned her way for a moment. "You're not coming."

"I can't look at the emotions of the whole world at once, Dad. I only have a direction." Charlie shook her head at him but held his gaze. "I won't get out of the jet."

Scott paused and then nodded once. "Fine. But one of Kurt's bamfs is staying with you."

"Fine," she agreed, already following him out the door.

They met up with the rest of the team at the blackbird, and Charlie just tipped her chin up when she saw that the adults were giving her a bit of a look.

"I can find him," Charlie said as she sat down close by the cockpit so she could give Scott a solid direction.

"Kurt, I need one of your bamfs to stay with her once we get there," Scott said.

Kurt raised an eyebrow Scott's way but nodded all the same. No one was going to argue with Charlie if she could find her brother. "Of course."

With that decided, Scott put the jet in the air, and Charlie clutched onto the pendant around her neck with her eyes squeezed shut. K could smell the uptick in anxiety from the girl, but Charlie was giving Scott directions every few minutes as she clearly zeroed in on Cody — until finally, she opened her eyes and let out a breath. "Found him," she said in barely a whisper before she relayed the final coordinates to Scott.

Once they got to the coordinates, Scott turned to Kurt. "We'll cut through the Marauders, but if she gets within earshot, we're in trouble. You and the bamfs can go in ahead of us — break her jaw or whatever you have to do to keep her quiet and then focus on finding Cody and getting him _out_. We'll take care of the rest."

Kurt nodded and disappeared in a poof of blue, leaving Scott, K, and Noh to deal with the group of Marauders. In a blink, Kurt found himself in the entryway of the building and inclined his head to the side for only an instant before he teleported again.

He had timed the teleport exactly right, but before he could wind up to lay into Sinister, there was a familiar sharp sound before an optic blast hit him hard enough to knock him back into the wall, knocking him out.

As Cody turned to walk toward Kurt, intending to check on him, Sinister called out to him. "Leave that menial work to the help."

Cody froze and visibly swallowed before he took a step back, still fuming over the order.

"Come away from there," Sinister called out.

"Fine." Cody closed his eyes for a second and then spun on his heel. "Just thought you'd want to know if he was alive or not."

"The Marauders will be by soon enough," she said with a wave. "There's nothing useful there to us."

* * *

"Is this another stupid radio blackout zone?" K asked when they hadn't heard back from Kurt in a reasonable amount of time. The path in was heavily fortified with soldiers and Marauders, but between the three of them it was really just a matter of time before they found Sinister even without Kurt.

"Very probably," Noh agreed as he tossed one of the Marauders over his shoulder, then looked to K. "Perhaps you should check on Nightcrawler — I can finish up here with Scott."

"Probably a good idea," Scott had to agree as he blasted back another Marauder. "It's been too long."

"Sounds like a plan to me," she agreed. "I wouldn't mind a chance to crack her one."

Noh nodded and then turned to K to simply pick her up and toss her several yards through one of the windows. She rolled to her feet and saw Sinister standing there with Cody, though Sinister didn't move. Instead, it was Cody who stepped forward and blasted her with a wide enough beam that she couldn't quite dodge it and went flying backward.

"If she gets up — flatten her," Sinister said, her eyes flashing and a smug sort of smile on her face. Cody met K's gaze for a moment and looked wide-eyed and apologetic, but he wasn't arguing, either.

K blinked up at him and turned her head to see what the layout was and to come up with a quick plan, though it wasn't entirely necessary as a soft _bamf_ echoed the room.

Kurt has woken up just in time to see K get hit. He appeared just in front of Sinister, and before the smoke had even cleared, he hit the woman hard, knocking her back several steps with a _crack_ as her jaw broke so she couldn't give any commands. Sinister, for her part, still managed a furious sort of noise before she smacked into Kurt hard enough to set _him_ back as well as the two of them fell into a hard-hitting back and forth.

While Cody's focus was on the scuffle with Sinister, K darted forward and tackled Cody, taking him to the ground in a smooth, gentle move. She put the boy in a sleeper hold, muttering over his shoulder as she asserted her grip. "I'm sorry, buddy, but I have to do this. You'll be fine when you wake up."

An instant after Cody fell unconscious, Kurt hit the wall on the wrong end of an optic blast from Sinister, but when he saw that K had Cody, he teleported to them both. "Time to go," he said and simply disappeared to the jet with both of them. "Scott, we have Cody," he said over the comm, though he was hunched over from that last hit.

"Sit down, Kurt," K said in a stern tone even before she got Cody settled into a seat. "I'd hate to have to knock you out too."

Kurt let out a small breath of a laugh as he sat down beside her. "Far be it from me to argue."

"Did you break anything?" she asked as she started looking him over.

"Possibly," he admitted. "Bruised at the very least."

She let out her breath, shaking her head slowly. "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

Kurt waved a hand. "Her back was to me, and her focus was off of you and Cody." He smirked at bit. "I'm not as slow as Scott — there's no need to baby me."

"I disagree, _Dad._ " She emphasized her point by brushing the gray hair out of his face.

Kurt shook his head at her lightly, though any argument he might have offered to her was interrupted by Noh arriving with Scott. Noh went right to the cockpit — since Scott was immediately moving to check on Cody.

"Is he alright?" Scott asked.

"He seemed fine," K admitted. "I had to put him to sleep, though."

Scott frowned. "What happened?"

"He was walking free and doing what Sinister said."

At that, Scott let his shoulders fall. "Chance said he made a deal with Sinister," he said.

"Then I may have been hasty," she said.

"No, you did the right thing," Scott assured her. "I don't know what the deal was. For all we know, he was under a command anyway. I wouldn't put it past her to be doubly sure."

"I'll keep a close eye on him," K promised. "He should be down for another half hour. Give or take."

Scott nodded at that and then moved to the other side of the jet to sit by Charlie, pulling her into his side to kiss the top of her head as she hugged him.

"Told you I could find him," Charlie said with a little smile.

"Yes, you did," Scott agreed before he pulled her into a tighter hug. "Are you alright?"

"It's worse when it's a wider focus," she admitted. "But I was meditating while you were out there."

Scott nodded at that and simply snuggled her a little harder, knowing that she couldn't possibly be recovered yet. But still — "I'm proud of you, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Dad."

The flight back to Westchester was quiet after that, with Scott taking care of Charlie, Kurt resting, and K keeping an eye on Cody. The only real break to the silence was Hank calling the jet to let them know that he was taking Chance back to Westchester with him now that he was stable, but other than that, it was just a relieved sort of silence.

They were almost home when Cody finally started to stir, blearily glancing around the jet for a moment.

"Hey, buddy," K said, whisper quiet, before she brushed Cody's hair out of his face and tried to let him wake up slowly. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Cody's shoulders dropped instantly, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry I hit you," he whispered.

"I've been hit a lot harder," she replied. "It's fine."

"I was trying to make it look worse that it was," he explained quietly.

"It's okay, Cody," she promised.

But he shook his head again, still looking upset. "She didn't make me do anything," he said.

"It's okay," she said again. "I'm fine. You're fine - right?"

He let out a breath and nodded, though it was obvious he was on the verge of crying because his lip was quivering. "I just… I couldn't let her kill Chance," he said, whisper quiet, as K was.

She pulled him over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, then gave him a kiss on the temple as he took a little shuddering gasp and was definitely crying and trying to hide it.

"I promised her — I said I'd do what she said," he hiccoughed.

"You did what you had to," she said quietly, still just holding him tightly. "Chance is alright. So is your sister."

"Charlie… I didn't even think about — did she—" Cody glanced over to where Scott and Charlie were curled up. "Is she okay?"

"She's the one that found you," K told him.

Cody let out a breath of relief and then just rested his head on her shoulder before he looked past her to Kurt, who was still resting but simply turned toward the two of them quietly observing. "I'm sorry I hit you," he said softly. "I tried to check on you… she wouldn't let me."

"We're used to it," Kurt assured him.

"I'm still sorry," Cody muttered, though he was starting to get a better handle on his emotions. Outwardly, anyway.

But at that, Charlie picked up her head and smiled Cody's way. "Look on the bright side," she said quietly. "We can go _home_ after this. Not to Muir Island. Home."

K felt Cody's shoulders drop a bit at that as he let out all his breath. "That sounds really good right now."

"Thought so," Charlie said with a smile.


	8. Muzzled

When the alert had gone out from Muir Island, Logan had stayed in Westchester with Kate and Jubilee and the junior squad members that were actually living in Westchester, in case anything came up on the home front while the rest of the team was gone.

Which ended up being a good thing, because around the same time that Scott and his team arrived at Muir Island, the alarms went off to indicate a perimeter breach.

"It's just that kind of a day, apparently," Kate said as she shouldered her quiver, already headed down the hall, while Jubilee directed the students toward the tunnels under the school.

"Never rains but it pours, right?" Gerry replied, though when he tried to calm down a couple kids with some pheromones, he frowned. "Dampener," he said. "I can't use my powers."

"Must be a field," Kate said with a nod. "You still have your bow?"

"Like Dad would let me leave without it," Gerry shot back, reaching for the retractable weapon as Kate tossed him a quiver and the two of them headed for the exits, picking up Elin along the way as the young woman looked ready for a fight.

Logan had already slipped outside and was watching for wherever the attack was bound to come in from, not overly concerned about the kids getting out, since even though they'd managed to get around the outermost perimeter without setting off the alarms, the second line still gave them enough time to get the students out.

He just wasn't prepared for the sheer influx that he was seeing - or the fact that he couldn't count the carriers, since they were cloaked. He didn't even think about it when he hit his comm for the others. "Too many to count." was all that he gave them before he dove into the fight, though that … wasn't what he'd expected either.

"Careful out there - dampening field," Kate replied.

"Yeah, just figured it out, thanks," Logan replied, though the soldiers were already shouting at him in angry Russian and were rattling their weapons, but that had never stopped him before. So, he dove in, no claws in play, to start fighting bare knuckled.

He was dodging their strikes and missed a few rifle rounds, but as he darted between a couple of them, one of the soldiers managed to land a round through one arm - and he popped his claws purely on instinct before he started slashing.

Logan was slicing through them left and right, but just when he seemed to be getting into a stride, they hit him with a taser. And then a second one - and before he could even get his wits about him, someone cracked him in the back of the head, and he was out of the fight.

As the soldiers started to swarm toward the house from all sides, Kate and the junior squad members had made their way out onto the lawn, surprised by how far in the soldiers were already - and with no sign of Logan either.

"Elin, I need you to find that dampening field generator," Kate called out to her. "Don't worry about radioing it in when you find it - just destroy it. Gerry will keep trying to black them out, so we'll know when it works. Just focus on not getting caught."

Elin nodded quickly and darted off before Gerry pulled out an arrow to nock it. "So we're the, what, distraction?"

"More or less," Kate admitted. "Jubilee will totally kick their butts if they get inside, and all of the kids here have at _least_ passed Storm's class. That'll give us a leg up."

Gerry nodded at that, and the two of them simply went straight into a barrage of arrows, though obviously, there were just too many Russians for two Hawkeyes to handle alone.

Inside the school, it was a different story. Jubilee was still urging kids to the tunnels - with help from the twins and Sadie. The youngest kids were obviously the priority. Kari had already taken Kade and Malin, and the older kids were making it a point to look out for the rest.

So it was that much more frustrating when a few of the kids came running back up the tunnel with wide eyes, a group of bamfs with them chattering angrily.

"We can't go that way," Magda Summers panted, still holding onto Malin's hand alongside Kari and her brother. "There's soldiers that way."

Jubilee let out a frustrated noise and blew her hair out of her face. "Alright, new plan - get all the kids to the Danger Room or the War Room. Those're going to be the hardest to get into."

"We'll handle it," Kari promised quickly. "You go kick their butts."

Jubilee nodded and took off at a run down the halls, shaking out her hands for a second before she dove in to start making these stupid soldiers regret their every life decision that led them to that point. It had been a while since she really stretched like this, but as she dove into it, she was largely fueled by a total attitude, especially since these guys were targeting some of the smaller kids.

She had just knocked one of the creeps to the ground when she saw a flash of green hair and turned her attention that way in time to see Michael Summers getting dragged off, though he was trying to drag his feet against the ground to slow himself.

Jubilee spun to go after those guys, but there was a whole wall of them as the soldiers closed ranks and took off with the kid.

She was spitting mad, and that was the way she knew when the dampening field went down, because she could feel the sparks at the edges of her fingertips. With that, she hit the retreating soldiers with a huge plasmoid, blasting several of them off their feet - and she could hear a few other kids who hadn't hidden in the Danger Room fighting back as well.

But by that time, the creeps were already retreating anyway, and had clearly gotten what they'd come for - so now the ones who were left had to assess the damage.

* * *

When the attack hit Westchester, everyone had rushed for the tunnels. Kaleb and Sadie had been among the group trying to usher kids through one of the entrances in the med lab, since they had grown up there and knew where everything was.

They had been leading the charge out of the tunnels when they heard the sound of boots on the ground coming their way - and both of the kids turned around to face the others. "Go back!" Kaleb shouted, shooing the kids with both hands as they started to run.

The kids made a rush back toward the school, though with the dampening field still up, it was more a matter of who was naturally fast and had longer legs as the kids really panicked - and the soldiers caught up to their position.

They seemed to be picking their targets, too, actually tossing aside the kids they weren't interested in before one of them grabbed Kaleb's tail and started to pull him back. Kaleb tried to kick the guy, but he just caught Kaleb's foot too.

Sadie darted forward to try and help get Kaleb loose, and even managed to kick the guy holding him between the legs from behind, but she didn't get any further before one of the other soldiers made a rush and pinned her arms to her side as he scooped her up from behind and immediately retreated with her.

Once Kaleb got his feet back underneath him, he rushed toward Sadie, and when another soldier reached out to grab him, he bit the man's hand hard enough to make him bleed from two sharp holes. Immediately, the soldier released him, and Kaleb darted in, wound up to kick another soldier in the stomach, and instead was grabbed around the shoulders by another soldier to drag him off too.

The kids were still close enough that they could see each other as the soldiers carried them off before they wound up on a stealth jet - along with an unconscious Zoe with a pretty big lump on her forehead.

Kaleb looked between the two girls with his heart hammering in his ears before he met Sadie's gaze and saw that her eyes were as wide as they would go. "Okay - this looks bad," he offered to her.

Sadie nodded and tried again to twist to a point that she could take a chunk out of the guy holding her, but when her head got almost close enough, the soldier grabbed a hold of her hair and pulled her head back.

Kaleb let out a growl that because of his age still had a little squeak to it as he tried to get out of the soldier's grip by using his tail to wrap around his arm to get a little leverage, but it only worked for a second to get him some breathing room before he too was pulled back a little tighter by the Russian, who was almost chuckling under his breath at the kids' antics as they got to work restraining the kids in their custody hand and foot and handcuffed to their seats.

"You jerks are just signing your death warrants," Sadie growled out.

"No kidding," Kaleb agreed. "Wolverine, K, Black Widow, _and_ both Hawkeyes coming after you that ticked off? Hope you have life insurance."

"Life insurance doesn't cover willful acts of stupidity," Sadie said.

"True." Kaleb yanked on his tail a bit, though it was tied too.

Sadie glared at the man that was clearly in charge before she switched over to Russian and started carrying on in a low, clear tone, describing exactly what her father was going to do to them when he found them … if he was alone. And when she saw some of the soldiers faltering at that, she smirked and went into vivid detail on what her _mother_ would do if she joined him, with Zoe nodding in agreement the whole time and adding in her own two cents as well, in very colorful Russian that her father would have been upset to know she'd learned.

Finally, the guy in charge had clearly had enough of the kids, and he simply stepped forward to sedate all three of them for the duration of the flight out.

* * *

When Natasha got to the mansion, Logan was already prepping without a destination in mind, not a word said, but his jaw was locked tight and he was doing his best to keep from growling. He'd figured he'd just head out and see where he ended up, so he wasn't exactly thinking about the missing kids' comfort when he picked out the fastest jet they had outside of the blackbird.

He wasn't the only one, either. Kate and Gerry both had taken some pretty hard hits and were down in medical, but Jubilee was right there with him totally furious over how the kids had been snatched right in front of her - and Natasha had arrived at the same time the rest of the team did.

"What is going _on_?" Scott asked, not even off the blackbird yet.

"We got hit by Russians," Jubilee called out. "They took five kids - and they were just headed out."

"When?" Scott asked. "We didn't get a call on this."

Jubilee let out a breath and projected all of it to him so he didn't need to ask all the details. The attack, how they got past security, who was taken, and the fact that they knew how to get into the tunnels.

Scott shook his head lightly before he headed to Logan. "We need to take the blackbird - for the space," he said.

"Fine. Whatever," Logan agreed.

"And we need to know where they _are_ , unless you're planning on searching all of Russia."

"There are not many facilities in Russia that can handle this kind of firepower," Natasha pointed out. "I can count them on one hand."

"Then count them with Jubilee and Charlie and get me a heading," Scott said. He turned back to Logan. "Kurt's still on the jet. Broken ribs. I'm calling Tyler - who else is down?"

"Kate and Gerry got hit pretty bad," Jubilee said. "Elin too, but she's healing."

Scott nodded as he considered it. "Alright. Logan, I need you and Hank to prep the blackbird on medical and refuel. We need to be prepared for the kids."

Logan looked supremely irritated at the suggestion, and with a growl, he turned to stalk toward the lab without a word.

Scott shook his head and then turned to Jubilee. "Who's missing?"

"Zoe, Michael, Kaleb, Sadie, and Nolan," Jubilee listed off on her fingers. "No one else was taken, but we've got plenty of work for Dr. Blue and his tall blonde apprentice."

Scott let out a breath and shook his head when he heard it. "Alright. Ask Kari to direct the bamfs - they'll listen to her faster. We need Tyler - and have them pull in either Billy and Teddy or Kitty and Peter Quill, whoever's available. We need more people to cover things here while the institute's defenses are down."

"They shouldn't be down at all," Noh said as he got out of the jet with K and Cody. "There is absolutely no reason for the breach."

"Reason or not, it happened," Scott pointed out.

"Yes, but it could give insight to what we're facing," Noh said. "I'll look into the security while the ship is refueling."

Scott nodded. "Alright. Once everyone is healed up and refueled, I'm going to need you two-" He tipped his head at Noh and K. "-and Kurt. Logan and Natasha are coming either way."

"I'll keep him semi-calm," K offered.

"That would be nice," Scott said.

"I can help," Chance offered in a raspy voice. He and Hank had just arrived from Muir Island, but he wanted to hit something after the debacle with Sinister has left him feeling so _helpless._

"Me too," Elin called out as she joined the little group.

Scott frowned between the two of them. "Chance, you should be in medical - and Elin, we need someone here that can handle things, since I'm taking both of your parents."

"You didn't see them coming out of the cloaked transports," Elin pointed out. "Dad couldn't keep up with the _count_. I think you need more firepower, and that's not coming from a 'wanna go' angle."

Scott's frown deepened for a moment before he finally shook his head. "On one condition," he said. "Both of you get down to medical and both of you refuel. And Chance, you're not going if you're still limping like that."

Elin nodded to his conditions and offered Chance a shoulder to lean on. "What do you want me to bring _you_ to eat on the way?"

Scott paused, turned her way, and then almost smirked. "Whatever Annie sends you with. I'm sure I'd have heard it anyway." With that, he turned back to the blackbird to get prepped to go back out, sure that the rest of the team would be ready to go.

"Who do I need to stab in the face?" Elin asked, though she didn't look Chance's way as they headed to the lab.

"Today?" Chance asked in a hoarse tone.

"If you need me to stab people on a daily basis, then you've neglected your emailing preferences terribly."

Chance smirked and shook his head. "I just meant… there's a lot of people to stab today," he said.

"Well that's just lazy," she replied dryly.

Chance let out a breath and then shook his head. "Sinister got to Muir Island," he explained softly.

She nodded her head and seemed to steel herself. "Got it."

"Please don't go after her. There have been enough stupid decisions today on my account."

"Hey, if I get a shot, I'm taking it," she replied. "And if it makes you feel better, I owe that creep anyhow." She let out a low growl. "Treats my whole family like a bunch of animals."

"Treats me like a mistake." Chance nodded.

"He had James locked in the same cage that Dad was in when he was like … I don't know. A teenager."

"I didn't know that," Chance said.

"He wasn't really broadcasting it," Elin replied. "Either of them, really."

Chance nodded as they rounded the corner headed for the lab. "Sinister… Cody gave himself up. That's why I'm even alive," he said in a tone that clearly betrayed how _mad_ he was at the whole thing.

"Then that's just another reason to take her out," Elin said with a nod.

"After Russians," Chance said, his voice getting a bit quieter the more they talked.

"Like I said … if I get a shot." She shrugged and then pushed open the door to the lab with her foot. "Uncle Blue … He needs a patch job so we can go shoot Russians."

Hank looked up from where he was filling Tyler in on what had happened and shook his head at Chance. "I should not be surprised," Hank said before he gestured to one of the empty beds for them to wait while Tyler fixed up some of the worse cases like Kurt and the two Hawkeyes first.

But it didn't take long before, between Tyler's healing and Annie grabbing onto the assignment of refueling people who had been healed with both hands, the team found themselves back in the hangar and ready to move, with a location from Charlie after she'd swept each of the locations Natasha had pointed out - and then crashed in the living room with Chloe taking care of her big sister, sleeping off the exhaustion of the emotional workload.

Natasha didn't ask before she climbed into the cockpit, and no one was going to begrudge her that spot when she was as spitting mad as she was, totally silent and focused. Not that anyone else on the team was much for conversation after the night they'd all had.

Logan and K were conversing quietly together, and from across the jet, Elin was watching them carefully, eavesdropping as best she was able from where she was seated closer to Chance and Kurt.

"Okay, this should be interesting," Elin said quietly.

Chance couldn't help but lean forward a bit. "Yeah?"

"Yeah … they're talking about letting me go with them on the forward assault." She turned to look at him with a little frown. "Which … this is going to sound a little dumb, but I've never practiced with them before. Not like that."

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "It doesn't sound dumb," he assured her. "Kinda sounds like a big step. You know I got your back, right?"

"Yeah, I know," she said, nodding to herself as she turned back to watch the two of them. "I think it's mostly an intimidation thing, though."

"Yeah, you're pretty scary," he couldn't help but say with a smirk.

She gave him a dry look. "You're hilarious."

He smirked a bit wider her way. "Well, yeah. But I grew up with the scary."

"I am _not_ scary," she said, shaking her head.

"Hey," he said, leaning forward with his eyebrows high on his head. "Own the scary, El. You're about to jump in and scare the pants off of a bunch of Russians - you should at least be confident in your intimidation."

"Just what every girl wants to hear. Thank you. For that. Very helpful."

"What, you think you can't be gorgeous and terrifying at the same time? Have you _met_ anyone in this jet?"

"Yeah, pretty much how it works," she said, shaking her head.

Chance gestured grandly. "So, own it. And if you're really that worried, I'm sure there's someone who _likes_ gorgeous and scary out there. I'm partial to it myself, but I'm also insane, I've been reliably informed."

She snorted outright and crossed her arms as she turned to look at Kurt. "He's still got head trauma, doesn't he?"

"It wasn't head trauma," Kurt said, though he was watching them both with a slightly raised eyebrow and a muted smirk.

"Undiagnosed, then. Tyler is clearly slipping."

"Hey, there was no head trauma," Chance defended.

"Do you want some?" she asked with a teasing smirk.

Chance leaned forward with a grin. "Way to embrace the scary, El," he teased right back. "Serves me right for complimenting you."

"Just try to keep up, okay?" she shot right back. "I don't actually want to see you needing a second Twinkie today."

For just a second, Chance's grin faltered before he shrugged and nodded. "I'll stay out of your way," he said with a small smirk.

"Not what I was saying," she said, turning back around to face him. "I know you're not stupid enough to get too close to us in case something goes wrong. And we need someone excellent to cover our backs. Especially if there's another dampener up."

"Yeah, try not to get in trouble without me," he teased lightly. "Too many rescue missions at once."

She wrinkled her nose up. "So there's a cap? Why didn't someone tell me?"

He just smirked and shook his head. "I think the cap is when the adults start to wear down - and we need Tyler just to send 'em out again," he pointed out before he looked past her toward the window of the jet. "Too bad for them that just means everyone's pissed off and doesn't care about going in easy."

"What's easy like?" Elin asked at a stage whisper.

"You're asking the wrong Summers," he shot back, matching her volume and tone.

* * *

When they were nearly where the facility was that Natasha had pinpointed with Charlie, Scott got the attention of the team for a quick run-down. "Widow, you and Wolverine are running point on this. You know the layout - take out their resistance. K, you and Elin are with them - make sure your comms stay on. If this is a trap, I want to know about it _before_ this turns into another rescue operation." He gestured to himself and Chance, Kurt, and Noh. "The rest of us will follow the path you open up for us. Kurt, as soon as you find the kids - get them out. If there's a dampener up, work with Chance and Noh, and I'll cut us a new path if we need it."

"Family affair out front," K muttered to Natasha.

"As if it was going to be any other way," Natasha replied without missing a beat.

Logan put his hand on Elin's shoulder and leaned a little closer. "You gonna be alright with this?"

She nodded and gave him a tight little smile but otherwise seemed to be steeling herself with her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw.

"Chance, keep a close eye on this one," K said, tipping her head toward Elin. "Out of the four of us, she's the only one they don't _know._ So I would be surprised if they didn't try to mob her."

Chance nodded. "You know I got her back."

"I know," K told him with a little smirk. "But I thought you should be ready for when it happens."

As soon as the hatch was opened, the forward team darted out at a full run, with Logan and Elin headed one way and Natasha and K going the other, though it really was a well spread out four person line. Right off the bat, the soldiers proved K right and seemed to try to focus on Elin, not that it was a big deal right away with her parents on either side of her and Elin working the sword she carried exactly as Logan had taught her since she was small.

Unlike her parents and Natasha, though, Elin wasn't cutting to kill, necessarily. Neutralize, absolutely, but it wasn't her intention to cut them all down permanently.

It was absolutely a numbers game, like Logan had experienced at the institute, but that was just shifting the whole tone of the fight, as their front-liners were pretty much made for those kinds of odds. And when it seemed like they were getting a little too concentrated on Elin, she wasn't surprised to see several of them go down from gunshots or to hear Chance tell her, "Got your back."

The fight was hard, but it was clear that they were making steady headway, and when they got to the point that they were cutting off the flow, Logan shouted out to Scott that it was _time._

There wasn't even a moment's hesitation before the other half of the team rushed to catch up to their front-runners, pushing through the very few soldiers that were left behind. "Any sign of them?"

As soon as they caught up properly, Elin slipped from the forward fight and fell back between Scott and Kurt to join them inside. "Dampener isn't on yet," Logan called out as they made their way to the clear break in the flow.

Scott nodded and then tipped his head Kurt's way. "Alright. Let's see what they're up to."

With that, Kurt simply disappeared, and Scott turned to Elin. "Can you track them down? If Kurt gets caught up, we need a backup."

"Yep," she said, nodding her head, clearly a little out of breath. "Just need to get past the concentration of soldiers' scents … too many people is a pretty good way to mess up a trail."

Scott nodded. "Lead the way."

She took just a moment to look at how the halls were laid out before she picked a direction and rushed down, trying to find a familiar scent from one hall to the next until it was clear that she'd found something to follow as her body language shifted from tense and cautious to clearly confident.

They had just turned the corner to what was clearly a lab setup when Kurt reappeared with one of his bamfs. "I've found three of them, but-" He trailed off when he realized that the others had caught up to the scent from the look on Elin's face. He frowned a bit and followed the group as they nosed around the corner to find that the remaining two captives, Nolan and Michael, were tied down in the lab.

Both of them were unconscious, but the scientists running the show had clearly not touched Michael yet, though Scott directed Elin his way just to be sure. "Anything that's not his scent - drugs, implants - I want to know about it."

As Elin went to check on Michael - and undo the restraints around him - Chance had made his way over to where Nolan was and was frowning down at the guy. It looked like he was wearing more or less a muzzle, black and heavy-looking, that stretched over the entire bottom half of his face. There was a green light at the bottom of it, but the way it was designed, Chance was surprised Nolan could breathe with it on.

Chance let out a low whistle and started to undo the restraints. "Yeah… I don't think we've ever seen that before, have we?" he asked Scott, who frowned and shook his head.

"Michael's clean," Elin said after a long moment. "Just … drugged."

Scott nodded. "There's a clear path back from here. You and Chance get these two back - we'll get the other three," he said, gesturing between himself and Kurt with one hand.

Elin and Chance shared a look and headed over to pick up their friends. With both of the boys slung over their shoulders, they headed out - and Kurt and Scott disappeared.

"Kinda glad we got here before they could do this to Michael," Chance told her in an undertone as they headed back to the jet, tipping his head at Nolan.

"No telling what that's all about," she said, glancing over at Nolan. "But I'm glad he's okay too."

"Yeah, he's breathing alright and everything. Which is saying something, since I don't think that thing has any airholes. Must be circulated somehow?" Chance said as he shifted Nolan a bit. "What I want to know is how they picked their targets. Your sister, my cousin, Nolan… "

"We can probably figure out why they wanted my sister," she said, shaking her head. "And I hate to say it, but Nolan would be useful if he wasn't so stupid most of the time."

Chance tried not to grin too much but nodded. "You know, I think my dad says the same thing about Michael - but in more… frustrated uncle terms than what you just did."

"Oh, I'm sure," she agreed. "He's just too much like your uncle."

"So, what, they targeted goofballs who aren't reaching their full potential?"

"Sadie isn't a goofball," she said, shaking her head.

"You haven't seen her encouraging my little sister and Kaleb."

"Oh, I have," she countered. "But she can be crazy focused. I think this … this group has to have connections to the creeps that used Natasha when she was little. If you use that for criteria … they got the right girl."

"Kids who aren't on the team, too," Chance said. "So they want powerful but not able to fight back, maybe? Or … less able, anyway. I know everyone here can hold their own at the basics at the very least."

"Powerful mutants that haven't decided to be X-Men or Avengers."

Chance shook his head as they headed for the jet. "Think it was a coincidence they came at the same time Sinister was being a creep?"

"Not a snowflake's chance in hell."

"Then that might be the easy answer. I mean, the woman knows all about us," Chance pointed out.

"Unless there's a tie that's bigger than we know about. Which … let's be real. Creeper would do that."

Chance pulled a face but nodded. They were within sight of the jet now, and he thought he'd seen Michael's hand twitch a while back. "Sedative wearing off?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "Let's get them inside and secured before they do."

"Yeah, I'd hate to be Nolan and waking up with that thing on anywhere but secure," Chance agreed, though he was shifting a bit. He was actually still kind of tired from all the healing.

"I'm sure there's a tactical excuse in there to use a collar on him," Elin said. "And rope."

"El, I'm trying real hard to be a hero, and you're not making it easy on me right now," Chance said.

"You _are_ being a hero," she pointed out. "You also have a responsibility to _not_ let him trash our ride out. That's all I'm saying." She smirked his way. "If I do it, it might be considered vindictive."

"Yeah, but if I-" Chance paused and then shook his head. "Yeah, remind me to never get on your bad side, huh?" he teased instead.

"If you do that, then clearly, it's proof I'm not nearly as scary as you like to say," she replied as she got Michael settled into a chair near the back. "Honestly, we should probably just collar them both. For now. No favoritism that way."

"That and Michael could crush us both inside the plane if he panics blindly…"

"I told you I had sound reasons," she said. "And you're in the clear anyhow with Nolan."

"What makes you say that?" Chance asked, raising an eyebrow her way as he headed to the back of the jet to get the collars.

"Not like you were holding a grudge," she said. "Or have a reason for a grudge."

He paused and looked her way for a moment before he let out a breath and shook his head. "He upset my best friend," he finally said, rather than admit to anything _else_ that had been going on this whole time.

When she turned, she gave his arm a little squeeze. "Woe be it to anyone to do that."

Chance smirked at that as he got the collar on Nolan. "Hey, I have your back. Always will."

"Well, for now anyhow. Hard to do if we end up in different lines of work."

"What, you planning on leaving the team?"

"Who knows," she said with a shrug.

He kept an eyebrow raised her way for a moment longer before he shook his head. "Yeah, well, I'll have your back when you decide to be a professional horse trainer too," he teased. "Laugh at all the newbie students who think you'll be a pushover."

She gave him a little smile. "You're sweet, you know that?"

"I'm a Hale?" he offered, looking a bit sheepish.

"Not sure if that's where it all came from," she said with her back to him while she started up the pre-flight.

"Everybody's got a theory," Chance said with a small smirk, though he was distracted when Michael started to wake up a bit more. "Hey, Michael. You alright?"

Michael looked wide-eyed as he started to wake up, but it didn't last too terribly long, since it was clear he was on the jet, and his cousin was with him, so he almost just drifted back into unconsciousness before Chance shook him.

"Hey, none of that. I know it's tempting, but it's time to be awake right now," Chance told him.

"What happened?" Michael asked, his words still a bit slurred from the sedative.

"Bunch of Russians wanted to get their butts kicked, so they grabbed you and a few others," Chance told him honestly. "What do you remember?"

"Pretty much that," Michael said with a little frown as his hands came up to run over the collar and the frown deepened. "They swarmed the whole school, and the powers were turned off. I was trying to get down to the Danger Room with the other kids and then - yeah. I don't think my feet touched the ground. No good."

Chance nodded as he moved around to unlock the collar on Michael now that it was clear he wasn't totally freaking out on them. "Did you see anybody else?"

Michael shook his head lightly. "No. They knocked me out on the jet."

"Do you know what the … face … thing is about?" Elin asked as she leaned on the seat in front of Michael, her arms folded on the top of it. She turned and tipped her head toward Nolan.

Michael looked over at Nolan with a frown. "They just said something about… being 'docile'? Sorry, I wasn't really… paying attention."

"That's fine. How is your stomach?" Elin asked. "You can probably use some water and one of Jubilee's chocolate bars."

Michael nodded. "Yes, please."

She pushed off of the seat to go take care of him. "What about you, Chance?"

"I could honestly use some water," Chance admitted. "Throat still hurts even if it's healed. Weird, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty normal as far as I know. Stuff hurts afterward sometimes for a long time," she said as she pulled out the water. "Worse the damage is, longer the phantom pain lasts." When she came back with the water, she simply handed them both a bottle. "It'll go away if you feed yourself, I think … though it might be a little different with Tyler having healed you up. I don't know."

Chance raised an eyebrow at her as he unscrewed the cap. "You never said it kept hurting," he said. "I mean, I've done healing before with Ty, but that was always sedated. You…" Before he could quite finish the thought, Nolan had started to wake up, and he quickly shifted gears. "Hey, you're in the blackbird; it's fine," he said, because even if he didn't like Nolan, he didn't want to freak him out either.

"If you can relax and not do anything stupid, we can let you up," Elin said. "In this case, 'we' being Chance. I'm not going to be accused of being unreasonable if I happen to knock you out on accident."

"Yes. I'm the reasonable one," Chance said, completely straight-faced.

"Since Michael is recovering, yes," she agreed, taking the seat behind the pilot's chair.

Chance shook his head at her but couldn't stop the smirk before he turned Nolan's way. "I don't know how to get that thing off your face, but do you know if it's, like, explosive or something?" he asked.

"I didn't smell any explosives," Elin called back. "So unless they're like … in his dental work …"

Chance nodded before he carefully stepped around Nolan to let him out of the collar as the dark-haired boy watched him as best he could. "They grabbed five kids from the school," he explained. "Don't know who all you saw, but my dad and Nightcrawler are getting the others. Do you know if they're okay?"

Nolan shook his head, though he looked more than a little wide-eyed at what had been going on as he reached up to touch the device on his face.

"You can breathe okay, right?" Chance asked.

He nodded and tapped on it, looking overly concerned.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sure between all the geniuses we have back home and on the Avengers, they can figure it out," Chance said.

"I can just cut it off and we can see how that goes," Elin drawled out without turning around or looking back.

Chance tried not to smirk but really couldn't stop it. "Pretty sure we need to know what it's for. Besides the obvious."

"Suit yourself," she replied.

Chance just kept smirking as he shook his head to himself and tossed aside the collar, though Elin didn't get to say much else before there was a _bamf_ and then two more as Kurt, Scott, and the rest of the missing kids arrived. Kurt had Sadie curled into him, and Scott was carrying Zoe - though since all three were awake, it looked like Kaleb had just followed his dad.

"Preflight's done," Elin called out as she got up to go back and help.

"Perfect. The others are on the way," Scott said as he set Zoe down - and they didn't have long to wait, either. There was a spectacular explosion, and a moment later, the heavy-hitters headed their way.

"That's Mom," Elin said quietly. "Probably."

"Or the sparkly, angel-faced man," Zoe said quietly as Chance handed her a water bottle.

"Or Dad if he managed to find a fuel stash," Elin said with her head tipped to the side.

"Or Mom if she brought one of Dad's explosive tips," Zoe said with a nod. "Scott told us who was on the team."

"Picture the slow-mo walk," Elin whispered to her as she handed her a bottle of water.

"I've seen it," Zoe said with a small smile.

Kaleb, meanwhile, had climbed up to sit next to Sadie with a look of concern Nolan's way. "That doesn't look… umm. Good."

"Hank'll figure it out," Sadie said with a wave.

"He looks like a futuristic bandit on a bad Western scifi," Kaleb said.

"Kaleb, that is terribly unprofessional," Elin said with a false severity.

Kaleb turned her way with a perfectly innocent look. "Am I a professional now? I'm, like, _eleven_."

"I thought having an incident like this would at least put you on track," she replied with a shrug.

Kaleb shook his head. "We were drugged for a lot of it," he admitted.

"Do you want chocolate too?"

"Um, always," Kaleb said. "Do you want some too?"

"I think I might just," Elin said with a nod. "Do you have a preference? There's a whole store back there."

"Got any Three Musketeers?" Kaleb asked with a grin.

"Of course," she said with a sigh. "Of course that's what you'd want. Yes, I'm sure we do."

"Hey, I like the nuget," Kaleb defended.

"The name has nothing to do with it," Chance deadpanned.

"Last call before we buckle in, Chance … anything for you or your flying partner?" Elin asked over her shoulder.

"I'm fine with the water, thanks," Chance said, still smirking to himself as Logan, K, Natasha, and Noh showed up - not a one of them clean in the least and all of them wearing blood and plenty of ash.

"We're clear, Slim," Logan called up as he and K took a seat across the aisle from Chance.

Scott nodded and moved to the cockpit to put the blackbird in the air, as the last of the team cleaned up a bit and Zoe went right to her mom to get a solid hug that completely erased the murderous look Natasha had still been wearing until that very moment.


	9. Reindeer Games

On returning to Westchester, Scott had already sent word for Kitty to come and help with whatever this device was on Nolan. They weren't sure how it worked, and if they were being honest, they needed it in one solid, working piece to figure it out.

But there was trouble almost right out of the gate when it was clear that Henry was having an issue digging into it properly. "There's just a little too much miniaturized tech jammed in here," Hank said with a frown. "As much as I'd like to dive in, circuits this small are simply a bit beyond what I'm comfortable working with."

Charlie had been sticking around to check on Michael, but when she overheard Hank and Scott talking, she found her hands drifting to the pendant she was still wearing. She was pretty sure she knew who to talk to.

"James could do it," she said quietly.

"If you could get him to agree to it," Hank pointed out. "He's been avoiding touching anything like this for months."

"I'll talk to him," Charlie said. "I wanted to tell him Amy worked anyway — and suggest a few tweaks for when I do big sweeps like that."

"Hopefully, that won't shut him down," Hank replied.

"I'll lead with the mini muzzle tech," Charlie promised before she rushed off to the garage to grab the car she'd gotten for her sixteenth birthday and head out, with Amy still in the leather pouch in the car.

Banner's lab was far and away a different experience from dealing with Stark's group. For one thing, the music wasn't turned up — not rock, anyhow. Soft classical was drifting through the lab, and there wasn't a large group of unnecessary people wandering around. In fact, it was more or less Banner, James, and Banner's secretary — which kept the whole tone of the place very sedate.

That is, until Charlie came bounding in with a bright smile. "James, there's this thing the Russians are using, and it's miniature tech, and you should take a look at it."

He barely glanced up at her before going back to what he was working on. "Take it to Stark. He's the miniature tech guy."

"I think _you_ should look at it," Charlie insisted.

"Charlie … I'm not doing that stuff anymore. You know that."

"Yeah, but your design works," Charlie pointed out. "I used Amy twice in one day, and I'm still standing — and that's down to you."

"Great. Hank did fine then, didn't he?"

"He didn't make any changes," Charlie said. "He said he just made the tweaks in your notes, and then I took it to Europe. It's all you, James." She grinned. "Told you we make a good team."

But James frowned and shook his head. "Why won't he look at it?"

"He said the tech wasn't his specialty — the miniature stuff… it was wrapped around Nolan's face, and Elin offered to cut it off…"

"And you took it off on purpose?" James asked, frowning deeper.

Charlie smirked. "Well, if there'd been a second one…"

He let out a sigh and frowned at the chemicals in front of him for a moment before again going back to it. "I don't think they want me. Go for the sure thing and get Tony. Or Howard. He'd be good, too."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "You're making assumptions without knowing all the facts. Isn't there some kind of rule about that with you science boys? How 'bout you find out if you're wanted first before you _assume_."

He frowned and shook his head. "Sorry. Instincts, I guess."

"Well, ignore 'em and come with me," Charlie said. "Try doing the not-instinctive thing for once, just to see how it goes."

"Not if I can avoid it," he said dryly.

"At least come _look_ at it," Charlie said. "And then you can tell me you _can't do it_. Which you so can. So then you'd have to lie to my face." She leveled a finger his way. "And don't just… _lie_ to get out of it either, because that is _wrong_."

"Go on," Banner said as he peeked up at the two of them over his glasses. "I've got it for now."

James turned around to look at him with what was clearly an irritated expression. "I don't want to."

"Sure you do," Banner replied, back at his microscope. "And you want to know how I know you want to do it? In part, because _I_ want you to. And it'd be nice to know why psychopaths in third world countries are making muzzles for people, don't you think?"

"Russia's not a third world country," James argued.

"It is if you leave Moscow," Banner said in that same even, easy tone.

"They were going to put one on Sadie," Charlie said. "They were getting the boys first, but… she was there too."

"Pretty sure I'm being kicked out temporarily anyhow," James said as Banner nodded with a clear 'mmhmm'.

Charlie smiled at Bruce as she seized James' arm. "Thanks!"

"Any time," Banner called back.

With that, Charlie took James back to the car and headed back to Westchester, though he was silent for the ride home, staring out the window with his arms crossed. But it didn't bring Charlie down. She was glad to have him with -even if he was being pushed into it. It was still a step in the right direction. By the time they got home, she was grinning with her arm through James' as they went down to the lab and she kissed his cheek. "Thanks for humoring me."

"Knock it off," he grumbled.

"I'm in too good of a mood," she replied.

"Yeah, no means no, Summers."

She kept grinning at him. "I'm going to go check on my brothers. Have fun with Dr. Blue."

James rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. "I see how it is. Drag me here and ditch me," James said before he glared toward Hank, though the fuzzy blue doctor seemed completely unfazed by the glare. "Typical Summers nonsense."

"We know it had some kind of inhibitor function," he explained to James. "But the rest of its inner workings are still a bit of a mystery, I'm afraid."

"I don't wanna do this," James grumbled. "Either Stark would be better."

"Yes, well, Howard is currently occupied elsewhere, and Tony is out of the country," Hank said. "And seeing as you were hand picked by Tony and are here right now, let's just get down to work, shall we?"

James glared harder and made his way over to the device to take a look, absolutely not impressed. He pulled out the smallest tools that Hank had on hand and then sat down at the bench where the device was sitting. "Stupid thing's set to 'on'. Kitty fried it."

"It was the best way to get it off of Nolan so he could be allowed to eat and drink," Hank explained.

James shook his head and turned the muzzle over in his hands a couple of times before he pushed the screwdriver into a slot that was fairly hidden — and it cracked open into two pieces. "Cheap Russian crap," he muttered under his breath.

He frowned at the pieces, still not at all amused with the task at hand, then picked up the half that went over the nose and mouth and held it onto his face to see what it was supposed to do, frowning deeper when he realized how tightly fitted it probably was once the back half was on too. He pulled a light over and tried to get a closer look, but that just resulted in him cracking it open entirely to look at the contents. In under an hour he had it disassembled and expanded out so all the parts were visible. "Okay. All you," he called out to Hank.

Hank looked a bit surprised — though that was overshadowed by the pleased expression as he made his way over. "What can you tell me?" he asked.

"Well, it's tight-fitting. Probably a lot more tight-fitting if you're a fathead like Nolan," James grumbled. He pointed the screwdriver at the more important parts. "Rebreather, looks like it's soundproof, but there is a really crappy mic that I'm 98% sure is modeled after the garbage in drive-thru windows."

"Then they likely didn't expect to use it much if at all," Hank surmised with a deeply set frown.

"Why talk to them?" he asked with a shrug. "Then we have the not-so-surprising detail of a remotely-powered inhibitor that isn't part of the general on/off function. So. There's that. Then … you know. Trackers … and a couple of garbage batteries."

"I'm going to hope that the batteries aren't related to the functionality that allows the wearer to breathe."

"No, the power can go off and the rebreather will work, but they'd have to conserve their energy. The power makes it almost a forced air situation for high output moments like a fight. Running. Power goes out, they're stuck where they are if they like to breathe too."

Hank shook his head as he looked over the various parts spread out in front of James. "And the safest way to disable it? Assuming it is _on_ a subject."

"I don't know. I'd have to put it together and try it out."

Hank shook his head. "No, we'll save that option," he said with a small smile. "Simply a matter of curiosity."

"Fine. I don't want to mess with it more than I have. I'd stick with the hinge. Crappy design and all, though there is room in there for a mini tazer, honestly."

"Of course there is," Hank said in a sigh.

"But … if this is the battery system they're using, they won't be able to power it."

"It seems to be an oversight," Hank agreed.

"Can I go now?"

Hank raised an eyebrow at that but nodded all the same. "I hope you don't need me to suggest you see your sister before you disappear to parts unknown after the most recent hardship she's endured."

"Banner made it pretty clear that I'm out for a while anyhow," James admitted. "I think he's a sucker for girls coming by."

Hank smirked a bt as he nodded. "I've found when a pretty girl asks me to do something, it's best to agree."

James gave him a dry look. "He's volunteered me out twice now."

"Perhaps you should consider what it means that even the noted hermit Dr. Banner thinks you should get out more," Hank teased.

"Yeah, it means he wants me out of his lab," James countered on his way toward the door.

Hank shook his head. "Thank you for your help, James. I hope I'll see you before you leave us again."

James gave him a wave over his shoulder and headed for the stairs, not in the mood to bother with the elevator. When he got upstairs, he headed toward his sister's room, since Sadie had never shown an interest in any of this kind of work, and he was sure she was at least shaken. He didn't quite make it to the suite, though, before Cody spotted him and ran over to give him a huge hug.

"You come in when you heard about all the crazy that happened last night?"

"No, I came in when your sister guilt-tripped Banner into kicking me out."

"Well, either way, it's good to see you," Chance said from around the corner as he joined the two of them.

"Does this mean you'll be around more? Because I'm moving back to Westchester, and I miss my friends," Cody said.

"For a few days anyhow," James said before he frowned and looked down his nose at the two of them. "What happened to hunkering down in Moira's island hideaway?"

"It didn't work," Chance said dully.

"She got in anyway," Cody explained.

"Not exactly surprised," James said with a little growl. "Wonder why she didn't bother me?"

"She might not have known where you were," Cody pointed out.

"I've been coming and going from Banner's lab in broad daylight for months," James pointed out.

"Then I dunno - maybe she's scared of the Hulk?" Cody said. He paused. "She wasn't exactly looking too hard for Charlie either, though. Just… me."

"She's got a thing against girls," James said with a smirk before he turned toward Chance. "... and … you. _Ma'am_."

"Yeah. I noticed that when she almost killed me, thanks," Chance said dryly.

"So, is everyone abandoning Muir?" James asked, leaning against the wall.

Chance shook his head. "No, I'm headed back on Monday," he said. "Charlie and Cody are staying here, but… I wanted to finish the semester there." He smiled lightly. "Krissy worked so hard to get out there, I'd be stupid to leave."

"Probably better that way anyhow," James said.

"Yeah, I've been really enjoying the flight class and the psychic defense," Chance said.

James watched him for a moment that clearly read how much he couldn't believe Chance's angle. "Right. Sounds _amazing._ "

Cody smirked and put an arm around James' shoulders. "So. If you're back for a while, we should do something. We'll make Chance drive."

"Just because I can heal doesn't mean I want to be scarred mentally," James said.

"Hey, we're not that bad," Cody defended, grinning wider. "At least, _I'm_ not."

"You might be oversellin' that," James said.

"Yeah, we'll see. There's an ice festival this weekend," Cody said. "Let's go and have some fun."

"Oh, I don't know," James said. "I'd need a date for that."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Really? I don't have a date — and _no,_ that was not a proposition."

"You're not pretty enough anyhow," James teased.

Cody smirked. "Great. So we'll go the three of us."

"What, the girls all grounded?" James asked. "Or do you think they all just need to cower until this is over?"

"I mean, we _could_ get dates, but do you really want to be around Chance and Krissy?"

"Or are you trying to tell me something, Cody?" James said, frowning his way.

Cody gave him a dry look. "Uh-huh. We're leaving at eight on Saturday. If you bring a date, that's your business."

"Everyone's taken anyhow," James said with a shrug. "Or severely not interested."

"They really kind of are," Cody agreed before he paused and dropped his voice to a whisper. "But I kinda want to get out of the house with Chance? It was severely crappy with Sinister."

"Same kind of gross as last time?" James asked.

Cody nodded. "He'd be dead if I hadn't gone with her," he said low.

"Then what the hell would you want me around for anyhow?" James asked. "Don't you have like … emotional Summers bonding to do?"

"Because you're kind of hilarious and fun to be around and neither of us is up to snuff right now?" Cody pointed out.

James glanced over at Chance. "Is this a solidarity point?"

Chance shrugged openly. "More the merrier or something."

"As long as we don't discuss your big sister? I'm down," James said. "But I gotta go see my little sister. Baby's first kidnapping, you know."

"Sweet. See you tomorrow," Cody said.

* * *

Sying, meanwhile, had woken up still in Russian custody, this time with something stretching across the lower half of his face that had him immediately on alert. It wasn't quite a collar, and that was the only thing keeping him from going _straight_ into a panic, but it wasn't anything _good,_ either.

There were a few men in Russian uniforms who looked like they thought they were in charge, but before they could say a word, Sying yanked hard enough to pull free of the leather straps on his wrists and ankles and was on his feet and ready to fight. He _tried_ to tell the goons across from him exactly what he thought of them, but no sound escaped the muzzle on his face.

Which was a weird sensation — not being able to hear his own words when he _knew_ he was speaking. Especially since he could hear through his _skin_. Being silent was… off.

He reached up to his face, fully meaning to yank off the muzzle, but he couldn't seem to break it. Which was concerning enough on its own — but worse when one of the men stepped toward him and Sying's intended retreat was painfully _slow_.

Apparently, this thing had an inhibitor function.

Still, this was the whole _point_ of what his grandfather had been teaching him, right? The second of the Russians tried to grab him, he ducked and put his training to good use, confident he could at least deal out a few black eyes — up until he realized he couldn't get a breath right.

He was breathing heavily just from avoiding _two_ men, but he wasn't getting enough air for how much his chest was heaving. And when he realized it and started to see black coming in at the edges of his vision, he tripped right over anger and went straight into a panic attack, scrambling backward until his back hit a wall and he all but slid down it, hyperventilating and unable to _breathe_.

It didn't take long at all for him to pass out.

When he did wake up again, he was relieved to find that he could breathe, though he was still in the Russian facility and still muzzled, so his situation hadn't improved at _all_. He could feel his panic starting to rise in his throat again, but he closed his eyes to force it back down as best he could. He did _not_ want to go through all that again. Whatever this thing was, it controlled his air flow. He could _not_ afford to let them turn it down again.

"You do as you're told, yes?" The Russian military doc said. "If you like to breathe, you do as you're told. Is very simple."

Sying's eyes were wide as he nodded. Yeah, he'd gotten the message pretty loud and clear. Not that the rest of his mind and body were cooperating fully, considering he couldn't keep still and could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

"Good. Is good." The doctor nodded to himself and went about his business for a moment, then paused to turn back to Sying. "Oh. Try stupid moves again, and you won't need to worry about breathing. Yes?"

Sying narrowed his eyes and tipped his head to the side, not sure what the doc meant but sure that it meant something even _worse_ than what he'd just experienced — and not trusting himself to get up or move from where he was, which might be a "stupid move."

He was just… really, really tired of everyone thinking they could just grab him and _use_ him.

* * *

The festival ended up being exactly what the boys needed to get out a little and joke around. The local girls had flirted with all three of them, and Chance had talked Cody into asking one of them for her number by the end of the day.

But it had been good to get away from anything related to the X-Men or the labs or any pressure, really. They were grinning and joking around all the way back to the institute in grand moods — mostly at Cody's expense over the girl he'd tried to flirt with who had a girlfriend about twice Cody's size.

The laughter in the car was cut almost immediately when they returned to the Institute to find that the girls were whipping across the snow, racing the horses and steering from behind on downhill skis. "Shut. Up," James said, as they watched the race in progress. "I leave for one day and Mom busts out the skijoring stuff."

"Maybe we can catch a ride before she puts it up," Chance suggested.

"Only if you want to race the winner," James pointed out.

"It would still be a ride," Cody pointed out. "Here — drop us off here, Chance."

"Oh sure. Ditch me."

"Like a ton of bricks."

"I see how it is, Codes," Chance said, shaking his head as he just kept driving to the garage anyway, and all three of them jumped out of the car to go see the girls.

Before they got all the way around the corner, they could hear the laughter echoing up, and even Sadie was playing along, accusing Kari of cheating with her tail as a rudder.

"Hey, it's not cheating if it's a natural resource!"

Sadie was grinning at her, though it was clear she was nearly frozen through. "Such a cheater," she giggled.

"Natural resource," Kari sang back.

As the girls came to a stop, both of them very nearly fell over sideways from the lack of momentum, but they were laughing madly. "So who won?" James called down.

"Me!" Kari called back, grinning.

"In _her_ race," Elin said, chucking a snowball at her. "We didn't run the last two, if you guys really want to lose."

"Not too proud to lose," Chance said with a grin. "Looks like fun anyway."

"That's good, because that's what's gonna happen," she shot back.

"Money where your mouth is," Cody called out.

"Name your price future … fourth place," Elin shouted back to him.

"Twenty bucks and two sincere compliments," Cody called back.

"You're on," Elin replied without pause. "I'll even keep that girl you don't like from kissing you again."

"Wait, when did this happen, Codes?" Chance asked, turning to his younger brother.

"Hush," Elin said, waving a hand at him. "You missed it. It's a thing."

"I was distracted," Cody defended. "She snuck up on me."

"She's very excited that you're back in town," Elin sang. Then started up with the teasing song about them kissing in a tree, only the lyrics were more to the tone of married and in Swedish so that James was outright falling apart.

"Must be something about stalkers and Summerses," Kari said, shaking her head. "But I'm _not_ going to fake date you to fix it," she added, pointing at Cody accusingly.

"Too bad; that's how things happen," James chuckled.

"Nuh-uh." Cody shook his head.

"Besides, me and Harry are kind of a thing," Kari said, almost sheepishly.

"Alright, come on. Enough with the lovesick crap," Elin said. "Who's racing?"

"Me and Cody," Chance said. "James wants a turn too."

"Then get some skis on, boys," Elin told them. "We'll wait; Mom has plenty by the barn."

The boys grinned and rushed off to grab some skis as the girls shook their heads and grinned at each other.

"Which one do you think will fall first?" Elin asked Sadie and Kari.

"Cody, definitely," Kari said.

"James is actually good at this," Elin said. "Watch him on the inside turns."

"Well, you guys grew up with this more than we did," Kari pointed out. "Getaways and stuff."

"Only because you didn't want to get too cold," Sadie said. "We have always done it here when there was enough snow."

"That's usually when Mama wants to go somewhere warm. No fur," Kari said, gesturing at her own blue fuzz.

"James cheats too," Elin told her quietly. "So … just know that."

Kari turned toward Elin with a dramatic look of surprise. "Cheating? In this establishment? Blasphemy."

The boys came out a little while later, though they'd argued over which horse to use. James had picked his favorite — which Elin had expected — but Chance and Cody were going back and forth about their steeds. "Are you ready to lose?" James asked while they strapped into their skis.

"Are you ready to eat those words?" Cody shot back.

"Not from _you_ ," James said as he arranged his reins.

Chance smirked at that and grinned. "On your mark."

"Let Kari call it," Elin said. "Seeing as you'd red-light if we were drag racing. Every single time."

Kari grinned as she leaned over to call it out, and as soon as the boys took off, she grinned at Elin. "Place your bets, ladies."

"Oh. James will get it," Elin replied. "I have faith in the big cheater. Unless of course something stupid happens."

It wasn't really easy to see who got the start, though. All three of the boys started off decently, and all of them had pretty good balance, so the only real trick was the matter of balancing one hand to steer and the other to hold on. It wasn't hard for James and Chance, who had, of course, spent a lot more time in the saddle than Cody, but by the second turn, even Cody had a decent handle on things, and with a shared grin, Chance and James kicked up the speed another notch or three.

Cody swore when he saw how the two of them were doing and started genuinely working to get his horse going faster as they headed into the third turn that went around the edge of the lake. There was some ice, but there was a fair amount of open water too, so the option of just running the horses over it was out of the question.

Cody managed to jockey himself between the other two boys, and as they got closer to the lake, he was sure that James was going to fall back rather than go into the water, but instead, James turned his head with a wider grin, whistled shrilly at his horse, and toed out toward the lake as the horse sped up.

The ice wasn't an issue, of course, but the patch of open water looked far more spectacular than it was when he hit it and kept on top — throwing a rooster tail off of each ski before he had to pull his toes up hard to make the bank — leaving Cody swearing up a storm as James passed him by.

Which was all fine and good, except of course for the fact that the wet skis started to pick up more and more snow, and it wasn't long before James was having a lot of trouble keeping his balance right. Once he hit a little jump, it was all over — and the girls could see it before the wipeout happened, too. There were massive chunks of snowy ice on the bottom of James' skis, and once he hit the ground again, there was no recovering with lumps like that — though the tumble was nearly as fun to watch as the waterskiing portion.

But all that really did was leave the avenue wide open for Chance to pour on more speed and zip past their makeshift finish line, with Cody a good three lengths behind him.

Chance laughed as he finally came to a stop and shot Elin a grin. "Ta da."

"That just means you gotta race again," Elin said. "With Kari and me."

"Oh no," Chance deadpanned.

"I know; you're dreading it terribly," she said. "Catch your breath. I don't want you to lose because you're too tired to go on."

Chance grinned even wider at that as he caught his breath, and Cody was just shaking his head. "My money's on you anyway, El. You're the better rider," Chance teased.

She shifted her weight to one foot and looked disappointed. "It's not going to be any fun if you give up before we start. And besides … this is more like waterskiing — as my brother demonstrated so well."

"Oh, I'm still going to smoke you," he said.

"In your dreams, Summers."

Kari leaned over to James with a little smirk as he finally arrived at the group. "You're missing the show," she said even as she started to pat his arms to paff off some of the snow.

"That show is on all the time," he said, shaking his head.

She nodded, though the smile fell a bit. "Yeah. My sister's dating one of them."

"Yeah, I know," James said. "Which is why it'll _never_ be more than a ridiculous show like it is now."

Kari let out a breath. "As long as Krissy doesn't get hurt."

"If she thought Krissy might get hurt, she'd stop talking to him all together," James pointed out. He gestured to the two of them. "This … they don't even know they're doing it, and they'd argue it was just competition."

"I know; that's the only reason I'm not hitting one of them. Or both of them. It's totally unconscious."

He gave her a little smile and leaned forward. "She barely talks to him when it's a full group and there's no communication otherwise. Or did you miss the Halloween showing?"

"You mean the part where Krissy spent all night afterward _freaking out_?"

"About what?" James asked.

"The Nolan thing, or didn't you notice?"

"Oh, I noticed," he said, nodding. "That was ongoing."

"Krissy tried _so hard_ not to throw a party outright when they broke up."

"I know nobody liked him, but … she got over him on her own."

Kari nodded and then gave him a quick hug. "Wish me luck, troublemaker!" she said as she headed over to the others.

"I am not a troublemaker," James argued before he raised his voice: "Take 'em down, sis!" When Kari looked his way, he shrugged up both shoulders, hands out. "Not sorry."

This time around, James called the start for them, and the three of them headed off a lot faster than the first race with the boys. It was pretty tight for the first half of the race, but as they came out of the second turn, Elin shifted her grip and urged her horse forward with a few kisses and clicks.

Chance was keeping up pretty well — all the way up until Elin started giving the horse the freedom to really run once it was out of the turn, digging in hard to keep her balance and just hold on when she took the turns at speed. This race didn't get anywhere near as close to the lake as the other one did, and none of them were concerned with wet snow when they hit the slalom section of the run, though Elin ended it with a heavy lead.

"You might get better at this with some practice, Cody," she told him as she slid to her stop well before Chance and Kari did the same. "Sorry, Chance; I tried to warn you."

Chance just grinned at her and shook his head. "Hey, good race. Don't think I'm quite brave enough to run it the way you do, though. I don't heal," he teased.

"Yeah, try racing Mom," Elin said. "She doesn't even worry about breaking anything."

"Yeah, no thanks," Chance agreed, still grinning as he sat down to catch his breath.

"Not bad," Elin replied. "I'm gonna put them up now … after all that, they'll need blankets." She whipped a snowball at Cody and pointed his way with one finger as she led the horse the rest of the way to the barn.

"I see how it is," Cody grinned as he stooped down to gather snow up into a ball to lob back at her.

"Sore loser, Fourth Place!" she called out, getting down to her chores. But when she was done, and the animals were all put away, she sidestepped the joking and snowball fighting that was going on to head up to her room and get changed.

She was a little tired, and if she was being honest, though the races were fun, it was just a little distraction from worrying, though she wasn't quite sure what the trouble was yet. She just had this feeling...


	10. Time-Sensitive

When Elin was done with her shower, she headed over to crack open her laptop while she dried her hair and decided to see how Sying's little private trip was going.

But then she frowned when she saw the email in her inbox. Things had been so crazy that she simply hadn't been able to see it before. And this email was from the previous morning.

_Hey, Elin, just letting you know I'm headed back soon. I'm just going to take a catnap in the hammock and should be back a little after lunchtime. Maybe earlier. It was good to sleep on it and not have to answer to anybody for a while, but I hate being alone. See you soon. -Sying_

Elin frowned and turned to look at the clock. It was nearly sunset and she knew Sying couldn't possibly be back yet. They'd have seen the ship come in for as much as they were outside. She tapped her fingers against the desk and frowned at the screen a little deeper before she reloaded it, just to see if it needed to be refreshed for new news, but after a few minutes, there was no luck on that front and Elin had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She tossed her towel onto the chair back then headed off to find Noh re-working the security system and tightening up the relays. She stood nearby until he had a break in what he was doing so she could ask him "Have you heard from Sying?"

Noh frowned her way. "No, but I haven't checked my messages today," he said.

"The last one I have is from yesterday morning," she said. "And he said he'd be here by now."

Noh's frown deepened at that. "Let's go find Jubilee," he suggested, scooping her up to run her over to where Jubilee was snacking on some SweeTarts playing with Ael and Kade. Noh tipped his head to the side, and Elin knew they were having a silent conversation before Jubilee followed them out into the hallway.

"What's up?"

"I don't know, I just … haven't heard from Sying," Elin told her. "I can show you the last message I got - from yesterday." She was already offering her phone to Jubilee with the email open.

Jubilee frowned as she read it and then checked her own phone. "The last one I've got is from yesterday too," she said, already calling him up.

But when he didn't answer, Noh looked like he was just realizing something. "That would explain the penetration to our defenses," he said softly. "I assumed it was Sinister, but if they had our codes…"

Elin's eyes widened a little. "I didn't smell him at all in Russia though," she said.

"I'll find him," Jubilee said, already headed toward Cerebro.

Noh put a hand on Elin's shoulder. "We should tell Scott. I'm sure Charlie would have noticed if he was there, so he must be elsewhere."

She nodded and turned, her phone tightly in her grip.

Noh squeezed her arm gently. "Thank you for looking out for him, little sister," he said softly.

"He'd do the same for me," she said.

"We all would," Noh promised as they got down to Scott's office and he knocked on the door. "Scott, it seems our troubles are not yet through. We haven't heard from Sying since before the events of yesterday's raids, and he isn't answering our calls."

Scott's eyebrows shot up as he got to his feet. "I'll have Kurt take Logan down to the island and see if they can pick anything up from there."

"Jubilee is already at Cerebro," Noh told him.

"Good." Scott let out a breath. "Noh, if I'd known he wasn't answering-"

Noh waved him off. "None of us had the wherewithal to check emails, and there was no reason to think he had found trouble - except of course for his incredible talent for doing just that."

Scott nodded and then looked to Elin. "Your mom is going to want to come too when she hears about this," he told her.

Elin nodded. "I can go get her," she offered. "Or … just make the popcorn for the smaller kids."

"Get Kate too," Scott told her.

"I'll send down Dad and Uncle Kurt," Elin said before she turned and headed out the door.

K closed her laptop when she heard Elin coming, and by the time she got the message on what was going on, she was fully suspicious of the fact that Sying was gone at the same time that all of these competing weapons programs were finding themselves razed to the ground. So she didn't even bother changing out of her 'special' uniform when she dropped her plans momentarily to go speak with Scott.

When she got there, the guys were already gathered up and going over their best guesses as to when Sying disappeared. She looked at the gathered group of heroes and cleared her throat. "Iran. We're going to Iran. Or … I was going to anyhow."

The four men looked up in surprise, and Scott raised an eyebrow when he saw her uniform. "Jubilee's on Cerebro right now. What's got you in Iran instead of Russia?"

"I don't need Cerebro to confirm," K replied. "I've been combing through classified reports of weapons programs going up in smoke over the past twenty four hours. All of them are competing against Russia. And Iran is next on the list, logically. From the damage they're doing, I'm just guessing that they're using Sying. And if it's _not_ him, then I want to know who they are using."

"Alright," Scott said, nodding before he looked to Noh. "Let Jubilee know we're headed out. If they're using those muzzles, we'll need her to be able to communicate with Sying - or whoever it is that they've got."

Noh nodded once and zipped off to go get his wife, and Scott turned to the other three in the room. "I've got Kate prepping the jet already and refueling it from that last run. Kurt, you and Noh are our best bet at catching up to him, and K, you and Logan are our best bet at _helping_ him." He nodded once. "I'll stay here with the junior squad - Billy and Teddy have agreed to stay as well while we're still recovering from that hit."

"We'll be sure to keep you on top of the situation," Kurt said with a nod before he simply teleported himself and the two Howletts to the hangar, where Kate was indeed finishing up the preflight and Noh and Jubilee had just arrived as well.

Once everyone was on board and Kate put them in the air, Noh leaned over to K. "It's as if they want to be wiped from the face of the planet," he said softly. "If the Kree high command hears about this - well." He let the sentence hang and shook his head.

"It'll never get that far, Ambassador sparkle pants," she replied before she headed over to grab a spare team uniform. "I can't go play with you guys looking so much better than you, though."

"So much better than _some_ ," Kurt said with a smirk.

"All of you, love," K replied with a smirk. "All of you."

"Now she's just talking nonsense," Kurt said, waving his hand but smiling Logan's way anyway.

"Gonna have to side with her," Logan said. "No offense. I'm sure you're … meh… fine."

Kate snorted from the cockpit. "He's gorgeous, but I appreciate the blinders."

Logan gestured toward Kate. "There ya go. In with the gray haired crowd."

"I'm partial to that one anyway," Kurt said with a little smile over toward Kate.

"You bet your fuzzy little ears you are," Kate said without missing a beat.

"If you love birds want to focus ... I'd like to get eyes on this person," K called back, though she was most definitely curled up with Logan at the time.

It wasn't too difficult to find the site they were looking for, either. It was just good timing that they arrived when they did in time for a spectacular, screaming, colorful explosion that blew through about half of the top level of the facility, though K's intel said most of it was underground anyway. But it was definitely a dead giveaway as to where the missing half-Kree had gone, all things considered.

Before they could fully land, Kurt and Noh teleported out to try and get the jump on Sying before he could disappear again. "Try to get a tracker on him," Logan said over the comm as Kate settled the jet in.

"If, of course, we cannot get _him_ ," Noh said as he rushed ahead toward the still-smoking building.

"Get one on him anyhow," Logan said. "No tellin' what kind of recovery they have on the kid."

"If it's anything like SHIELD's methods, I'd say we will simply get to stretch when they arrive," Noh said as he and Kurt headed deeper into the building.

It really wasn't hard for them to follow the trail of destruction. Whether it was scorch marks or equipment torn out of the walls, Sying wasn't trying to be subtle; he was just destroying the whole setup.

They were sure they'd almost caught up to him when they heard the sound of something metal being yanked out of the wall, but Noh and Kurt paused momentarily when they arrived and realized that the metal sound was the door of a cell being torn out - and there were five young mutants inside.

Without a word, Kurt teleported to the kids and directed his bamfs to get them back to the jet - while Noh went on ahead to catch up to Sying.

By that time, the place was well and truly destroyed, and Sying was trashing the remains of a lab setup when Noh arrived and rushed over to where Sying was. He was furious - but not surprised - to see that Sying was wearing the same kind of muzzle setup that Nolan had been outfitted with, and when Noh caught up to him and pulled him to a stop, he was even more furious when Sying shook his head and pulled his arm out of his dad's grasp, signing to him quickly.

Noh stared at Sying's hands for a moment before he shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry; I don't know that…"

Sying shook his head with wide eyes as he tried again, though this time he looked past Noh to where Kate had come skidding to a stop, catching up to Noh after the bamfs had gotten her inside. So this time, Kate was the one to catch the message: _Get Kitty or Hank. I'm on a timer. Really don't want to blow up._

Kate's eyes went wide for a moment before she nodded her understanding. "How much time?"

_I'm cutting it close._

She nodded again and then put a hand on Noh's arm to let Sying pass at a run, and Noh frowned at her but didn't argue the point - not when Kate looked like she did.

"Guys, let him past you," Kate said into her comm as she grabbed Noh's hand to pull him along while he was still furious.

"What are you talking about?" Logan half-shouted back.

"There's some kind of timer and an explosive," Kate explained. "And as much as I want him back, I want him in one piece more."

"On it," K said, positively stalking back toward the jet. "Come on guys, tell me you got a tracker on him. I'm gonna see what kind of facilities they still have left."

"Noh got the tracer on him, didn't you?" Kate said, turning to her friend, who finally let out a breath and nodded. "So, we're going to need to call Kitty. I don't know what kind of time limit they'd have for a kid with super speed, but I doubt it's very long."

"Check out the kids he let loose," Logan advised. "Least we can do is get 'em the hell outta here before someone else picks 'em up."

"Already working on that," Kurt promised over the comms. "Jubilee and I have them on the jet, though we could use another friendly face."

"Fresh out," Logan said flatly though he was headed back toward the jet anyhow.

When he arrived at the jet, a few of the kids seemed to have at least settled down when it was clear that Jubilee and Kurt were getting them out of their collars and making sure they had food and water - though the younger two, a pair of girls, were curled up with their chins on their knees flatly refusing to take anything from them.

Logan made his way carefully over to the two girls and crouched down to meet their eye level and tried to speak with them, quiet and carefully, hoping that the only trouble here was a language barrier, which … between himself and K - wasn't much to worry about. And once he'd been sure to introduce himself and the team in Arabic … they seemed to pay a little better attention at least.

Jubilee tried again with an offer of a candy bar, which finally got a small nod from the girls, and she grinned over at Logan. "Thanks, Wolvie."

"It's sayin' something when the most useful thing I can do is translate," Logan said as he sat down near the girls so he could continue to answer their questions.

"Just a really crummy situation," Jubilee agreed, glaring to herself with her back to the kids so they wouldn't see it.

But she was surprised when the smaller of the girls got up and gave her a hug around the shoulders. "I told 'em it was your son that let 'em loose," Logan told her.

Jubilee couldn't help but smile at that as she hugged the girl back. "He's pretty amazing," she had to agree.

By that time, Noh and Kate had caught up with the rest of the group, and Kate looked toward K. "What's the story?"

"Nothing good," she said, not bothering to glance up at them. "Looks like Siberia. Go figure."

"Yeah, that definitely doesn't surprise me," Kate muttered, shaking her head.

"He doesn't even like the cold," Jubilee said with a frown. "Jerks."

"You can give them what-for as soon as we catch up," Kate promised, already climbing into the cockpit, then glanced back at the kids they had. "So, where first?"

"Probably oughta go to Muir so Kurt can go grab Kitty with a solid starting point," Logan suggested. "Give Noh a few minutes to check over the security there while we wait. Let 'em think they got away with it."

"And then give them a rude awakening," Jubilee muttered under her breath.

"Probably gonna have to go in stealthy," Logan pointed out. "Get enough bamfs in though and it might just be easy."

That of course just had the bamfs chattering their agreement, nodding and pounding their fists into their palms. "Yeah, I think as long as we can get Kitty to Sying… after that it's just payback," Kate said.

"Yeah, you guys might want to go home ahead of us," K said, smirking up at Logan. "Seeing as they want to put explosives in people …"

"You just want to tear down the whole of Siberia on your own," Kate accused her.

"I have plans," K said with a shrug. "Of several varieties that you don't need to witness."

"You're not going without me," Jubilee insisted.

K shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you want to witness things. Instead of cuddling your boy."

"Witness shmitness I'm just coming to get my favorite little half-Kree boy."

"She's talking about the after party," Logan laughed.

"Hey, that part I'm fine being in the jet for - which I _never say,_ so don't make me say it again," Jubilee said, leveling a finger Logan's way. "Its just… _wrong_."

"After party is so very not wrong," K said as she waved Kurt over for the coordinates. "Not moving so far, so that's probably it. Will that be a problem from Muir, or do we need to go to Japan first?"

Kurt shook his head. "We can leave from Muir," he said. "The bamfs will get us inside, and then we'll get Sying to Kitty in a heartbeat."

"Sounds like a plan then," K said with a nod. "And I'll keep an eye out all the same."

"Yes, if he goes on another mission, we should simply bring Kitty to him," Noh agreed. "We know we can catch up to him."

The rest of the flight to Muir Island was relatively quiet, though the closer they got to the European School, the more the girls began to talk to Logan - apparently excited at the prospect of getting to go to school.

"Oh, Moira is going to love them," Kate said when Logan had explained what the conversation was about.

"Probably," Logan agreed as Kate took them in for the landing. As soon as they were on the tarmac, Logan led the little group of newcomers down to see Betsy, who would act as translator until they learned enough English to get by with.

While that was going on, Noh was sure to take Logan up on his suggestion that he look over the security with Moira - but that just meant that by the time they were settled and ready to go, he was downright antsy. "Is he still there?"

"Yeah, he is," K said. "Worst case at this point - we know where he's headed. We can go and wait for him to come back. Working on getting into their system."

"Alright," Noh said with a nod. "Then I'll get Kitty."

"Kurt would be quicker," K sang out softly.

"I'm going to go insane waiting, K," he said. "I'm going to get Kitty now." With that, he simply sped off, leaving her shaking her head at him in the meantime.

When Kurt showed up a short while later, K was smirking to herself. "Noh went to get Kitty, but I have half a mind to have you go scoop her up away from him before he can get there."

"I certainly could," Kurt said. "But I think it would be best not to."

"Joykill," she said, shaking her head. "That probably gives you about what … twenty minutes to go snuggle your elfling?"

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make," Kurt said with a smirk before he disappeared in a poof of blue.

Krissy, of course, was more than happy to see Kurt, considering everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours or so, and she rushed over to wrap him in a hug. "Mama told me what happened," she said.

"It won't be that much longer before we have Sying back too," Kurt promised. "But I wanted to check on you, _schatzi_. Are you alright?"

"Well, _I'm_ okay, but one of my best friends in the whole world is being used by evil Russians, and my boyfriend nearly _died_ , so…"

"So you are worried," Kurt said, nodding.

Krissy nodded and then snuggled into Kurt a bit more. "When you bring Sying back, can I come too? He's been kicked around a _lot_ , and I want to make sure he's okay."

Kurt smiled and nodded. "Of course."

"And, you know, I want to make sure Chance and Cody are okay."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Kurt said with another little smile before he kissed her forehead.

But it wasn't long after that when Noh came in with a windswept Kitty, who was grinning widely. "Hey, Jubes - when was the last time we did a decent mission together? You do know we can work on smaller projects, right?"

"No, I thought we'd start out big and work our way smaller," Jubilee said before she simply rushed over to hug Kitty.

"Come on, sis - let's get your boy back," she said with a warm smile. "We'll figure out a smaller thing after that, okay?"

"I'm sure we could murder some ice cream sundaes," Jubilee agreed.

Now that everyone was gathered, Kurt and the bamfs got them moving - with Kurt putting a hand on either Howletts' shoulders before they reappeared in Siberia, where there was a small snowstorm starting up, which just had Jubilee more annoyed and grumbling about how it was just even _meaner_ to take her little boy somewhere that cold.

The bamfs had gone ahead inside the place just to figure out where things _were_ before they went back for the rest of the group, putting the small group of X-Men right at the holding area. Only one cell was occupied with a totally passed out and exhausted Sying, but it looked like the Russians had made space for more.

Thankfully, it looked like Sying was more asleep than sedated, considering he was spread out with limbs akimbo the way only teenage boys can do to take up as much space as possible - and he startled upright when he heard the slight electrical snap of K sticking her claws through the controls on the holding cell so Noh could just wrench it open from there and Kitty could step in.

"Do you know where it is?" she asked Sying, and the boy nodded, looking entirely relieved to see them all there as he pointed out to Kitty where to look at a spot along his spine to get the small device out - and neutralized.

With that settled, Kurt simply nodded to a few of the bamfs, and they grabbed onto all three of the Lees as well as Kitty to teleport them back home and out of the way so that they could work on the second part of the problem, the stupid muzzle, somewhere safer.

K and Logan, however were making good on their threats and were methodically destroying everything that they got anywhere near - starting with the radios so that they couldn't call for help.

It was a mission in pure destruction and the worst of it really didn't take too long - all things considered - though they took a little detour through Tokyo with the bamfs once the entire complex was levelled and on fire. The little imps didn't want to at first - at least, not until Logan promised them some sake if they cooperated.

* * *

As soon as Kitty and Hank had worked together to get the muzzle off of Sying back in the medical wing in Westchester, Sying took a deep breath and held it for a moment before he let it out through his nose and simply leaned back against Jubilee, who was halfway curled around him in the medical bed and hugging the stuffing out of him.

"Are the Summerses okay?" Sying asked as soon as he really had his voice back, sounding incredibly concerned even as Hank was setting up to finish up - by removing the G-tube they'd used to feed him.

"They're all upstairs," Kitty said. "Why? What's up?"

"Sinister," Sying said simply, looking downright upset. "She was working with the Russians; made me tell her where Cody was and-" He shook his head and looked even more upset. "And I told her Chance was still alive - and I told her and the Russians everything. About everyone. They wanted to get kids with 'good' powers that were young enough they could shape them up."

"You couldn't fight the order," Kitty said reasonably. "It wasn't your fault."

"It _is_ my fault she knew about Chance," Sying said. "She didn't know until I tried to fight the order by being glib and it just… totally backfired on me." He looked totally miserable as he shook his head and Jubilee just gently kissed his forehead and shook her head at him.

"They're safe, so are you … and all of us are more or less accounted for."

"Sans two very angry grandparents," Billy said as he walked in the room and smiled at Sying. "You look like you could use some sugar. Think Dr. Blue will let me give you any Pixie Sticks before he takes that tube thing out or is that a big surgical no-no?" He didn't really ask Hank's permission more than that, though, before he'd tossed a few to Sying.

"Oh, yes. Solid food," Sying said in a far too happy tone as he tore open the Pixie Sticks - and the Tootsie Rolls that Teddy had sent Billy with as well.

"Got you covered, Sying," Billy said with a grin and then sat down by Noh to put a hand on his old friend's shoulder.

"You spoil him," Noh accused Billy with the slightest of smirks, and Billy just shrugged broadly, grinning with his hands spread out in front of him.

"As if you don't want me to?"

"I would expect nothing less," Noh agreed, the smirk widening a bit. "Your husband is worse, though - and that is saying something."

"Gonna have to step up my game," Billy said, shaking his head before he leaned in a bit. "Speaking of." The smile dropped a bit, and he looked more serious. "Don't go all… raze the planet on this one, would you?" He held up a hand before Noh could argue. "No, I get it. I do. And yes, I know you'd only ask the Kree to target one country. But it's a very, very bad idea, and I would like to prevent intergalactic war."

"Alright, I don't think anyone had their money on Noh being the next harbinger prompting, did they?" Jubilee whispered to Kitty.

"Could have made a mint if you'd bet on your husband," she whispered. "Maybe I should take out ten on Peter?"

"I mean, that's even more of a long shot than the one who regularly cites intergalactic war as his favorite thing to do?" Jubilee giggled. "You should do it."

"So going to do it," Kitty agreed with a smile. "I'm pretty sure you have to pay _in_ if Logan does it at this point."

"Always bet on the long shots," Jubilee agreed, still happily cuddled in with her little boy.

Kitty leaned over to kiss both of them on the forehead before she got up. "Well. If Beast gives you the all clear, then I'll just head home … snuggle myself a Star Lord."

"Thanks, Aunt Kitty," Sying said with a small smile.

"Any time," she said before she spun on her toes and bounded over to Hank to hear the good word.

"Far be it from me to get in the way of your mission to snuggle," Hank said with a little laugh. "It's a simple matter of getting this tube out and letting him heal around it. You can go right along to your Star Lord."


	11. Not Okay

Things had more or less died down after the daring rescue missions when Krissy got to Westchester with Kurt, but she still hadn't been able to see her friends since they'd all been screwed with, so she went straight down to the med lab where Sying was all patched up and recovering to rush over and wrap him up in a hug.

"I heard about what happened," she said in a rush as she wrapped him up tight. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah — I mean, not really, but yeah," Sying said, nodding as he returned the hug as tightly as he dared.

"I heard about _all_ of it," Krissy said, settling in to sit next to him. "The breakup, the snatch, the muzzle, the everything."

"Oh," he said quietly.

"I'm really sorry," Krissy said. "That's pretty much the worst week of all time packed into, like, what, three days?"

"I do everything fast?" Sying offered, trying to redirect her into something a little lighter. "Really, it's okay. I… I'm really just enjoying being home right now. It turns out I'm really bad at not getting in trouble if I go… anywhere. Ever."

"Just when you go by yourself," she teased.

"Yeah. That's really helpful, thanks, Krissy."

She wrapped him in a hug. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said. "The last time, with the Russians, it was pretty horrible."

"I didn't freak out _that_ badly."

"Then you're already doing so much better!" Krissy said, grinning at him a little wider.

He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'm getting better at being captured."

"That's not what I meant!"

"I know what you meant," Sying said, still smiling at her.

"So!" Krissy disappeared in a poof of purple and reappeared by Hank. "So. What's the diagnosis, Dr. Blue? Can I steal him for movies?"

"I don't see why not," Hank told her with a little smile. "He's healed properly, and I'd say the best thing for him at this point is rest and relaxation. Can you manage that, little candy striper?"

"Not a problem!" she promised — complete with a crooked salute. "We've already got a Star Trek marathon upstairs, and Ael was asking for him anyway."

"Then by all means - popcorn and companionship."

Krissy grinned and disappeared in a poof again, then disappeared with Sying to where the rest of the group was gathered. And like she'd said, Ael rushed over to his big brother as soon as they arrived and wrapped him up in a huge hug.

"You have to stop getting in trouble," Ael told him seriously.

"I'm gonna try, anyway," Sying promised.

Krissy grinned at the two boys and brushed her hands off. "My work here is done." With that, she disappeared again, this time to go find a certain brunette boy.

She wasn't surprised, all things considered, that Chance was with Cody, both of them working on a thousand-piece puzzle in their family's suite and just hanging out together. But when he heard the _bamf_ , Chance's head came up, and he grinned Krissy's way. "When did you get here?"

"Just, like, fifteen minutes ago," she said. "I heard about all the crummy stuff that's gone down lately and wanted to check on everybody."

"Yeah, it's been nonstop awful around here," Cody said, shaking his head.

Krissy nodded and then teleported over to where Chance was sitting to kiss his cheek and briefly brush her fingers over his neck. "Tyler?"

"Yeah." He raised an eyebrow. "You heard about that too?"

"I have a tiny army of demons who will do anything for snuggles and kisses. The real question is how you think I don't know about these things."

Chance shook his head with a little smirk and then leaned over to kiss her, which got a long groan out of Cody. "Can you two maybe not?"

"Nope, sorry. Someone nearly killed my boyfriend, and I have to make sure he's okay," Krissy said, which just had Chance nodding along with a smile. "Actually, if you guys are interested, there's a big snuggle fest downstairs with all the Star Trek movies. Ael is snuggling Sying, and it's pretty much a big cuddle pile of kids."

"Sounds familiar," Chance said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I think that's about how things go around here. Kids snuggling after something goes wrong," Cody said as he got to his feet. "I'll meet you both downstairs," he said before he headed out.

Krissy grinned after Cody before she turned to Chance. "You sure you're okay?" she asked. "I mean, this isn't the first time Sinister's tried to kill you…"

"Yeah, I got to hit some stuff when we went to Russia," Chance said quietly.

"And that helps," she agreed, tipping her head to the side before she leaned in and kissed him again. "But, you know, just in case you're not okay, you know where to find me, right?"

Chance smiled and nodded before he kissed her back. "You're pretty amazing, you know that, right?"

"Oh, obviously," Krissy laughed, then kissed him again for a good long time.

They finally did get downstairs, though, after a makeout session that lasted a little longer than either of them had intended, to find that the kids were already out of popcorn again. Krissy, of course, volunteered to go get some, though while she was ferrying bowls of popcorn, she had noticed something important.

She quickly pulled out her cell phone to call Elin up and became even more concerned when Elin didn't pick up, so she found the little reporter bamf. "She didn't go back to _Nolan_ , did she?" Krissy asked, wide-eyed. "I mean, I heard he got captured, and I don't want… if she was feeling bad for him or something…"

The little guy shook his head quickly and chattered back at her, and Krissy let her shoulders drop, relieved to hear that Elin was just in the War Room with Scott going over all the intel from what Logan and K were up to as well as the intel from the past few days of nonstop crazy.

"Okay, good, because I thought I was going to have to go … I don't know. Drop them off of something. They'd both live."

The little guy rolled his eyes at her for that one, and Krissy stuck her tongue out at him before she teleported back to the group to watch _Wrath of Khan_ with the snuggle pile of X-kids — and with Chance's arm around her shoulders.

* * *

"What the hell, Scott?"

Scott looked up quickly from what he was working on — intel reports on the situation in Canada, not that he was going to tell Chance he was looking into things like that — to find that Alex was striding toward his desk, not even waiting for Scott to look up and see who was coming after him. "Hello, Alex. When did you and Lorna get here?" He looked past Alex to Lorna, who didn't look terribly happy, either. "Hey, Lorna."

"We got here as soon as we could pin you down after our _son_ got kidnapped," Alex said, putting his hands on the desk in front of Scott. "What the hell?"

"Not like I asked for the Russians to invade the school, Alex," Scott said, getting to his feet. "Michael's alright. Magda's looking out for him. You raised good kids; they're taking care of each other."

"This is the kind of thing that happens to _your_ side of the family," Alex grumbled, though he looked less angry now that he'd been able to get out some of his grievances, and he leaned back with his arms crossed.

"It did," Scott said. "Chance almost died, and Cody was kidnapped." He shook his head. "And the only reason they were able to get in in the first place was that Sying was captured and forced to tell them _how_ to get in. It's not like we wouldn't have taken them down _hard_ if Sinister hadn't been involved."

Alex flopped into the seat in front of Scott as Lorna came to sit down in the other chair. "I really hate that guy, Scott. Why can't he just stay dead?"

"I ask myself that question every day."

As Alex tipped his head back, obviously frustrated, Lorna leaned forward, the corners of her mouth tight as she met Scott's gaze. "How is Michael? Really? He says he's fine when we talk to him, but you know how kids can be with their parents."

"Yeah, I'm intimately familiar," Scott said in a sigh. "He seems to be alright. Shaken, obviously, but he's mostly freaked out because Sying and one of our other students were outfitted with muzzles, and he knows he was next up for the procedure. It's the 'what if's that are tearing him up, from what I can see."

A minor smirk flirted with Lorna's expression. "He gets that from _your_ side of the family."

"You're not wrong."

Lorna chuckled and leaned back in her seat. "Next time, call me. I could have torn apart the facility in seconds to save my boy."

"I'll remember that," Scott promised. "Really, we would have called you — everything just happened so fast. Sinister, Sying, the Russians, all of it. We just grabbed the people who were _there_ and dealt with the problem."

"Scott." Lorna leaned forward, the look on her face reminiscent of her father. "Next time, call me."

Scott smirked. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

It had actually been good for Chance to get back to a more 'normal' routine with school come Monday. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't a little… off since the thing with Sinister, though to be fair, he didn't think there was any way to be okay after he had been frozen and unable to stop Sinister from killing him.

His vision had gone white and everything. It… it had been close, and he knew it. If Cody hadn't stepped in when he did, he'd be dead.

He couldn't help being frustrated. He had worked his whole life to get on the X-Men, to show he had what it took, but over and over again, it felt like he was just… the _spare_ guy on the team. He knew none of his teammates felt that way, but just about every villain they'd come across did, and it was wearing on him.

He was trying not to believe it — he still remembered Brian and Casey and their stupid jabs — but that on top of the fact that his own little brother had essentially bargained his own life and freedom just to buy Chance the ability to _breathe_ …

He was having a hard time.

But he made it through the school day just fine, and even caught up on some of what he'd missed after missing class on Friday. It was just coming back to his room with Cody not there that finally got him to realize that he wasn't actually okay.

He didn't know if it was the fact that Cody was gone or if it was just the room itself or if it was lying down in bed and staring at the ceiling when that had been what he'd seen when his eyes started to roll and his vision started to go white… Maybe it was a combination of all of those things. He didn't know.

Whatever it was, he realized quickly that he couldn't stay in that room. Not that night anyway. Maybe Moira would give him a different room if he asked… but he also knew he didn't want to be alone.

He didn't really think about it before he wound up at Krissy's door, and she looked surprised when she saw him there. She was wearing her pajamas and looked like she had just been drifting off, but she woke up quickly and looked him over with an expression of concern. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded at first and then paused and let out a breath. "Not… really," he admitted.

She frowned, grabbed his hand to pull him in, and sat down with him. "What's up?"

"I just… can't… really… stay in that room right now," he admitted. He hated admitting it, too, because he'd always tried to just… push through things. But this was _Krissy_. He could tell her anything.

Krissy nodded. "I bet you can get a different room if you ask."

"I know," he said. "I just… thought maybe I could stay here." He quickly held up his hands. "I'm not… I'm not trying to fool around or anything."

"I didn't say you were," Krissy said, though she had flushed a brilliant, bright purple.

"I'm not," Chance said.

"Well, good," Krissy said, flushing a little deeper.

"I just didn't want to be alone," he said, though he was pink now too.

"Okay. Yeah." She nodded and then quickly brushed her hair behind her ears. "Yeah. That's fine."

"I can go somewhere else…"

"No, really," Krissy said quickly, grabbing his hand with a small smile. "You're totally right - you shouldn't be alone if you're having a hard time."

He let out a breath. "Thanks."

Krissy couldn't help but grin a bit and leaned over to kiss Chance. "If you hog the blankets, I'm making you sleep on the floor," she informed him, which finally broke the bit of tension in the room and had him laughing as he nodded his agreement and climbed in beside her, snuggling her with his arms around her waist and her tail around his leg.

* * *

Sying knew that his aunts and uncles and grandparents didn't like it when Annie fussed over them, but for the moment, he was actually incredibly glad that she was, because he was enjoying the ability to eat real food.

He hadn't really been gone that long — about two and a half days — but everything that had happened in those jam-packed days just had him grateful for the little things, like a serious breakfast spread of French toast and eggs and stuff.

He was sure to thank Annie for all of the trouble she'd gone to — and she, as expected, assured him that it was no trouble at all before he dug in, though he was a bit surprised when Charlie came to sit next to him and put a hand on his arm.

"You really need to stop that," she said.

He swallowed and looked up at her before he shook his head. "Stop what? I don't have to worry about eating too fast; I'm—"

"No," Charlie said, shaking her head. "I'm trying to prevent another… _complex_." She shook her head and pulled a face. "And I might not be able to get through to James right now, but you?" She gestured at him with one hand. "You know better than to wallow in the past. What's that thing your dad is always saying? The Kree 'Hakuna Matata'?"

He couldn't help but laugh at her description and shook his head. "I know, I know; I shouldn't think about the 'should haves'."

"So why are you sitting here under a mountain of guilt?"

"Because _I'm_ the one that told Sinister where you and your brothers were hiding!" Sying said, turning to face her fully with wide eyes. "I was trying to avoid telling him where Cody was, so I played 'which Summers are you asking me about' until he realized Chance was still alive."

Charlie tipped her head to the side with a little frown, which Sying was sure meant that she had just realized he had royally screwed over her brothers, before she shook her head. "She made you answer her, right?"

"What?"

"Those powers of hers. It was a command, wasn't it?"

Sying blinked at her. "Yeah, but I tried to fight it by accidentally giving up Chance's position!"

"Yeah, okay, I heard that," Charlie said. "But come on, Sying. She was going to make you tell her where Cody was either way. And he and Chance _shared a room_. Do you really think if Sinister hadn't known going in that Chance was alive it would have been any different?"

"I—"

"It probably would have been worse," Charlie continued, not letting him get in an argument edgewise. "She really _hates_ him. Can you imagine what she would have done if she'd been lashing out at him instead of just cold, calculated murder?"

Sying stared at her, completely at a loss for what to say. "But… he's your brother."

"Yeah, and I'm really, _really_ happy that he's alive," Charlie said, nodding along. "And I'm also really, really glad that you're back safe and sound." She gave his arm a little squeeze. "Nobody blames you. I _know_ Chance doesn't blame you." She tapped the side of her head. "I would know if anyone was holding a grudge, and right now, that only person who blames you — is you."

"It's not like I can just turn it off," Sying muttered.

"I know," Charlie said. "But… I thought maybe that would help. Hearing it from someone else. Getting a little… logic to balance out your freakout."

Sying couldn't help but smile her way as he nodded. "Thanks, Charlie."

"Anytime," she said with a smile before she leaned over and hugged him and then got up to go fill up her own plate for breakfast.


	12. Rumor Has It

"Should have kept the muzzle on him," Elin muttered under her breath as she headed to her second class of the day. Now that Nolan was back — and having been rescued by Chance, no less — the boy was trying to get his revenge on Elin for dropping him.

He'd already 'let slip' all that the two of them had done while they were dating, and even before they got to a decent break for the day, the rumors were flying. It was mostly what she'd expected - a lot of crap being said about her mutation generally speaking rather than taking a direct shot, as if _that_ was a safe route to take, seeing as it insulted the whole family, not just her.

But once Cody helpfully pointed that out to someone in the hall - purely as a deterrent - things took a much more personal turn.

By the end of the day, most of the boys that Sying had said he'd been keeping away from her had gotten over their fears and wouldn't leave her alone for five minutes. But she wasn't going to complain about it. She tried to ignore it and look at it as a kind of trial by fire - sticking her nose in the air and deciding to outclass them. Her reasoning, of course, was that all it would really take was a couple of them getting handsy - and walking away with broken wrists for the word to get out.

To make matters more interesting, the bamfs had already started decorating the place for the Valentine's dance, and that seemed to actually act as encouragement for much of the male population at Xaviers.

Elin was _trying_ to prove that she could handle whatever repercussions came her way, so she couldn't talk to any of the adults about it. So by the end of the week, she had headed over to the lounge the teachers used more often than not for a solid place to keep to herself, since, by that time, the boys were even going to the horse barn to find her.

"Hiding again, _schatzi_?" Kurt asked when he got to the lounge.

"Too cold to go in the woods for long, and I need quiet to study," Elin replied without looking up from her book. "Am I bothering you?"

"Not in the least," he assured her as he sat down next to her. He was reading Kamala's most recent book - which she had signed for all the Wagners with a picture of the kids inside - and simply made himself at home beside her. "I know it won't do any good to tell you they're just words."

She looked up at him with one eyebrow raised. "It's fine. They'll move on eventually."

"Yes, but in the meantime, it can feel very isolating," Kurt said. "I felt the same when I first started - though admittedly, people wanted to _avoid_ me, not…" He shook his head.

She turned his way a little and tried to give him a smile. "As long as they keep it to words and not physical contact, I won't break people."

"Anything beyond words deserves your fury," he agreed. He leaned over to kiss her forehead. "You are precious to me, Elin. It's taking everything in me not to simply teleport some of these… idiots into Siberia."

She couldn't help but smile at that before she closed up her book and shifted to give him a hug. "My stupid move - my time to deal with it. But thank you."

He hugged her a bit tighter. "Yes, well, consequences aside, _they_ should learn consequences of their _own_ stupidity as well - don't forget that."

"Oh, they are," she said, smirking to herself. "Pay attention. Not one of those idiots will be able to get a date as long as they're here. The girls can see what they're like."

"With good reason," Kurt said with a smirk to match hers. "Of course, if it gets to be too much for you, I may ask you to babysit the boys while Kate and I go somewhere for Valentine's - if you'd rather not be around such idiocy."

"I'm not going to let them _win_ ," she said, scrunching up her nose. "If they want to continue being morons, I'll _nuke_ them. I'm a teenage girl. Good luck keeping up with my nastiness if that's what you want to do."

Kurt grinned at that. "That's my girl."

"I've got this," Elin said. "I did learn from my mother, after all."

"Yes, but I wanted you to know you didn't have to do it alone," Kurt said with a warm smile.

"If you wouldn't do it for any given student …" She shrugged.

Kurt kissed her forehead. "Not just for any student would I consider stranding people in Siberia."

"That's what I mean, though," she replied, hugging his arm. "If I can't handle stupid teenage stuff, I have no business trying to do anything bigger than that."

"Part of handling it is knowing when to let your support system kick in," Kurt pointed out. "I know I benefited _greatly_ from having your father around."

"They better hope _that_ support system doesn't start kicking," she said offhandedly.

"Yes, well, if that happens, we'll simply have to step back," Kurt agreed.

"Can't reason with him when he's like that," she agreed with a nod.

He grinned and wrapped her up in a quick hug. "You are wonderful, Elin - and handling yourself so well. I'm very proud of you."

"I love you too," she said. "But you are just about as subtle as Sadie."

"Why _ever_ would I be subtle?" Kurt asked, looking as though the very idea was painful to him. "Can't I be a proud godfather without having to sneak around about it?"

"You're wonderful," she said with a smile. "And thank you."

* * *

The Valentine's Day dance was coming up, and while just about everyone was excited for it, Sying had to admit that he … wasn't really looking forward to it.

He was _aware_ of the girls making eyes at him in his classes, though he knew he didn't have it nearly as bad as Elin did. No one had actually tried to touch him or anything, but as the dance got closer, it seemed like a few girls just… _expected_ him to have a date or go with them.

He just wanted someone to go with that wasn't, well, the girls that were making sultry faces at him. Because that was weird.

But he also didn't want to give up on dating entirely, so he was trying to think of who he'd like to go with. It was just… totally unexpected when he sat down next to Charlie at breakfast and ended up asking her to the dance right there at the table.

He honestly hadn't meant to do it. He had just been thinking about the dance a lot, and Charlie had mentioned that she wasn't going with anyone, and it just… happened.

Charlie looked surprised for a moment, and he knew that she could tell he was too, but he was that much more surprised when she smiled and nodded. "Sure. That sounds like fun."

"Really?"

"Well, unless you're going to tell me you think I'm part of your rebound problem…"

Sying shook his head quickly. "No. I just…" He shrugged with both hands out. "I want to date someone I _like_."

Charlie just grinned at that. "How about going on a date with someone you're friends with, and we'll see where it goes," she corrected him, and he nodded sheepishly. She was right, of course; he didn't know if he _liked_ anyone at the school at the moment. But Charlie was safe. She was honest about feelings, and she had a _thing_ about relationships being balanced, so he was sure she would at least give him a shot while he figured out what he wanted.

Of course, what Sying had failed to take into account was the fact that he had a bit of a reputation himself after what had happened with Penny, and when the Valentine's Day dance came up and Chance saw Sying with Charlie, the look on his face was almost total betrayal.

"What - Charlie!" he spluttered as he made his way over to the two of them, with Krissy giggling madly as she hung on his arm.

"What, I can't go out with a nice guy?" Charlie said, shaking her head at him.

"You - Sying, that's my sister!"

"Yeah, and I asked her to the dance, that's it," Sying told him. "I didn't realize I had to ask permission."

"You so don't," Charlie promised him with a smile.

Chance just stared at Charlie for a moment. It wasn't just that Sying was dating his sister - it was that Charlie had really glammed up. She was wearing lipstick and heels and everything, even though she usually liked hoodies and sneakers.

"I think it's great," Krissy chimed in, grinning between the two of them. "You look great, Charlie."

"Thanks," Charlie said, fluffing her hair.

"Besides," Sying cut in. "I know better than to try anything dumb with the girl who could literally tell me I was thinking stupid before I even got there."

"He has a point," Krissy laughed, which got Chance's shoulders to drop.

"It's just a date to the dance, Chance," Charlie said consolingly before she leaned over and kissed Chance's cheek. "Besides, _I_ should be more worried about you and Krissy. You've been dating forever now…"

"Oh, come on, Charlie."

"I'm just saying - you have no room to talk," Charlie said primly before she threaded her arm through Sying's. "Come on," she said. "Let's go dancing, shall we?"

While the four of them headed out to the dance floor, Elin and James were watching the fireworks from a quiet spot along the wall. To anyone else, the group would have been hard-pressed to understand what was happening, but for the two of them … it was too easy. "You sure you wanted to go to this thing?" James asked, though the boys weren't stupid enough to try to talk to her while he was chatting with his sister.

"I have had a dress for this dance for a long time," she replied, gesturing down at her little red ensemble. "I'm not going to let these idiotic losers stop me from at least trying to have a little fun." She turned his way and gave him a little look. "What about you? No takers?"

"I've been busy," James replied. "Doing anything but putting up with their crap."

Elin shooed him with one hand. "Go. Find a pretty girl that isn't a total idiot for a dance or two. Pretty sure I can survive one little dance alone."

James gave her a look that read more concern than anything else, but he wasn't about to argue with his big sister. "I'll accidentally skewer someone if you need me to."

"I don't." The two of them shared a look for a long moment before James let his shoulders drop, and he headed off to mingle. But Elin wasn't alone for too long. She hadn't expected to be, but the young man that had made his way over to her was even more crass than she was used to dealing with and outright asked if she wanted to go find a dark corner.

She spun on the spot and narrowed her eyes at him. "What makes you think you're worth my time?" She advanced one step, totally holding back the growl as she gave _him_ a critical once over with a sneer. "Nothing I'm interested in. _At all_." Before he could respond, she simply brushed past him - though she was sure to put in a solid shoulder check on her way by.

Of course, Krissy and Chance hadn't been in Westchester to hear all of the rumors that had been flying around recently, so when Krissy went to get some water and craned around to look for her best friend while she was taking a break from dancing, she absolutely hadn't been expecting it when she overheard a couple boys talking about what they'd like to do with Elin and more or less leering at her from a distance.

Krissy's ears went up, and her tail stilled - and before she had even realized it, she teleported directly in front of the guy doing most of the talking and simply decked him with a punch solid enough to knock him out cold.

"Serves you right," Krissy said with a sniff before teleporting back to Chance to hand him the water she had gone to get.

"Um… Kris?"

"He was being a loser."

"Yeah, but… you knocked him out," Chance said, craning around her to see that Kurt had teleported the young man out of the way of everyone else.

"He was being a _jerk_. Saying horrible things about Ellie."

"Oh." Chance nodded as he sat down with her. "Well, he probably deserved it, then."

Krissy grinned and stole a kiss, though when she saw Scott headed her way, she let out a sigh. "Oh, hold on. I have to go get in trouble." She kissed him one more time before she teleported over to Scott to beat him to the punch and explain her side of the story, leaving Chance shaking his head in her wake.

"Most exciting dance I think I've been to," Mac said as he walked up to Chance. "Is that normal for X-Men Valentines dates? Crack some guy in the jaw? Cause if it is, I can see why Logan chose here."

Chance smirked. "Well, you know, if the guy's going to catcall Elin… kinda asked for it," he explained.

"Yeah, pretty easy to hear the rumors," Mac said, looking irritated himself.

"Not in Europe," Chance said, though he didn't have to think too hard about what, exactly, those rumors were, and he found his gaze on Nolan and Penny - who had come together - and settled into a glare.

"Oh, I didn't hear them up north," Mac said. "Just since I got here. I'm guessing they're not stupid enough to say stuff around her friends though. And … most of them don't know who I am … so." He drew in a deep breath. "Enough about that. How are things in the European School?"

"Pretty good," Chance said. "Krissy and I were talking about doing a tour of Europe after the semester's over - you know, see something outside the island."

"That sounds like a good time," Mac said, nodding. "I'll be taking my first visit to Muir before the end of the semester. Your dad _finally_ cleared it."

Chance shrugged. "It's okay. You're honestly not missing much. I'm kinda… not going back in the fall."

"Well. We all go to each other's schools to give the kids all the options," Mac pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," Chance said quickly, then shook his head. "Sorry. I'm just…"

"Distracted. Yeah. I can see that."

"The whole reason I went out there was to be with my brother and to stay safe, and neither of those things is true anymore," Chance said, letting out a breath. "Honestly, I'm just staying for Krissy right now. She worked for months to get her parents to let her transfer, and I would be an _idiot_ if I left after that."

"That's probably the right move," Mac agreed. "No quicker way to get in trouble with the girlfriend than to ditch her after she followed you to Europe."

"Yeah, no kidding," Chance said, shaking his head.

"Have you tried the other Xavier's campuses?" Mac asked. "I was kinda wondering how they stacked up to the original."

"No, but Elin went to LA for a while, and James was in Chicago," Chance said. "I don't really want to go to either of them, though. LA's … I mean, I like Storm, but it's not really… it's just a _school_. And Chicago is for the super geniuses, which I am not. I can fly anything, take it apart, put it back together, but me and technology are oil and water outside of the hangar."

"Probably smarter than you're giving yourself credit for," Mac said. "I was just a scientist before I started up our team. And I know it's hard being in a group and being the only guy with no powers. Worse still when you're trying to lead them."

Chance let out a breath that was almost a laugh. "Yeah."

"You know that's like … the entire reason I built the suit, right?"

"Yeah," Chance said. "I just kind of hoped I could do it on my own, though. Work hard enough and prove I could stack up."

"What makes you think you can't?" Mac asked frowning at him.

Chance paused for a second and then let out a breath. "It's going to sound stupid," he admitted. "I'm just… always the dead weight."

"See … I don't believe that," Mac said, shaking his head.

"You're not the one who has to play catch up trying to save your friends from crazy people - and then getting almost killed just for existing."

"No, I'm the guy that's been doing that for decades … and _started out_ trying to keep up with Logan." Again, Mac shook his head. "You're right. I don't know squat."

Chance glared at the floor for a long time before he finally let out a breath. "I know. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid," Mac said. "There comes a point where you just get used to being underestimated though. And believe it or not - it is underestimated."

"Yeah, I've heard Kate say that a few times," Chance said with a small smile. He finally let out a breath and turned toward Mac. "It gets easier, right? Being the only human on the team?"

"Once you've established your place?" Mac smiled then shrugged. "For your team, yeah."

Chance raised an eyebrow at that. "You still get flack?"

"From people that don't know better - yeah. All the time. But those same people don't criticize when you're pulling them out of trouble. You gotta have thick skin to do this job."

"Yeah, I know," Chance said, nodding. "I guess I just… got shaken up." He shrugged. "You heard what happened, right?"

"The real short overview, yeah." Mac let out a breath. "I think you're already tougher than you're giving yourself credit for. Your age and you already have a personal grudge match with a super villain? Come on."

"To be fair, she hates me because of my face and my genes," Chance pointed out.

"Human hater. Too bad for her."

Chance couldn't help but smirk as he shook his head, though it was obvious he was feeling a bit better for talking with someone about it. "What about you? Weren't you on your way to retirement or something?"

"Still gotta find people worth stepping in," Mac said. "It's not easy, honestly. Can't hand it over to just anyone."

"Yeah, no, I remember all the crap I went through just to make the team here. It's a high bar," Chance agreed.

"If you made it through Logan's test, you're doing better than half my team as it is. That guy's a little nuts, if you don't mind me tellin' you." He gave Chance a crooked grin.

"Well, hey, if you want a measly human to come and mess with the guys that think they can make it…" Chance said with a smirk.

"I'm always a fan of measly humans," Mac laughed. "Nothing more entertaining than watching a puny human wipe the floor with powered up folks."

"Me and James used to do it together all the time before he got his powers," Chance laughed.

"It's even more fun on your own though," Mac promised.

Chance nodded to himself. "I may just have to do that then," he decided before he grinned Mac's way. "Thanks. Not everyone gets it, you know."

"Anytime," Mac said. "My door's always open."

In the meantime, Krissy had actually totally skirted getting into trouble for her own Valentine's escapades once she had explained to Scott that she was dealing with a guy who seemed to think he had a right to put his hands on Elin even if he hadn't quite gotten up to going to do it just yet…

But either way, she'd gotten a stern lecture and a "find other ways to deal with that" but no _real_ consequences.

She wasn't going to head back to Chance, though, because she saw him talking to Mac, and they looked like they were in deep conversation. And it was honestly good for him, because she knew he _needed_ to talk to someone, so she wasn't going to step into it.

Instead, she finally spotted Elin on the other side of the room and teleported over to her in an instant. "Can I kill Nolan?"

Elin raised an eyebrow her way. "I am pretty sure that you'd have to take a number at this point."

"I'm claiming best friend privilege to put my number up several slots."

"Still puts you behind my brother at _least_ ," Elin pointed out.

Krissy rolled her eyes dramatically. "Ugh."

"So not worth it though."

"Says you. You haven't seen the look on Sying's face when he saw Penny's new date. He's so… _worried_ about her. It's _obvious_ he still cares and she is just… and he's just…. UGH."

Elin shook her head at that. "Isn't it neat that they're all worked out and accepted and I get to be the big slut over this?" She gave Krissy a tight smile.

"Yeah. You're not helping my desire to stab him. I could drop him off a building. He'd survive and everything!" Krissy pointed out.

"It really doesn't matter," Elin said, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. "It's gone on this long. Sooner or later, it'll stop. And if it doesn't then … well… I don't know."

"It's just stupid," Krissy said, shaking her head.

"Your dad was offering to port some of them to Siberia," Elin told her quietly.

"Well, he has the right idea."

"I'm like … ninety percent sure that the boy that went to medical the other day said something a little too close to dad."

" _He's_ the one that should be getting flack. He's the one that wouldn't take no for an answer! That's - that's - _why can't I just stab him?_ "

"Something about some … kind of code? I don't know. Scott can explain it better."

Krissy couldn't help but laugh at that before she wrapped Elin up in a hug. "You are so. Much. better. Than any of these stupid people. You know that, right?"

She shrugged and frowned to herself. "You're way biased. And probably wrong."

"Ellie, if you can't see that you're better than perverts, we're going to have to talk about your worldview."

"Well right now the perverts seem to be outnumbering me and gaining more followers."

Krissy grinned that much wider. "But that's how you know you're right - didn't you know?"

"What? When the better part of the school is totally anti- me? I've never been popular anyhow, but this … "

"Clearly, I need to move back to Westchester to whip people into shape."

"Don't you dare. You keep doing your European drama tour with Chance. Where you belong."

Krissy let out a sigh. "I really am coming back after this semester, though. I mean, we're going to go tour Europe and everything but… Chance… needs to not be at Muir Island."

"Probably just as well," she said. "My family is going to Japan as soon as school's out."

"Oh, I heard Mama talking about that. I think it's a great idea - setting up a sanctuary for kids on that side of the world!"

"Hisako wants to run it," Elin said. "So we're going to help her secure everything and set it up. I kinda can't wait for Ael to come with Noh for the tech side of things. Kid is going to flip out."

"You'll take pictures for me, right? Video, maybe?"

"No." She shook her head seriously. "But James will."

"Oh good, because for a second there, I thought you were going to deprive me of the most dramatic Lee family meltdown of all time."

"We're already taking bets on what's going to freak him out worse - the fish market or all the sushi."

"Definitely the sushi, I'd think."

"I told dad I wanted to try the dancing squid," Elin said with a grin.

"Oh, please, video. _Video_. Not just pictures. I _neeeeed_ it."

"For that? Absolutely," she agreed, nodding her head before she looked over Krissy's shoulder. "But … I think you should get back to your date, and I should probably just call it a night. I shouldn't have come down here."

"Well, I'm glad you did, even if it was just to get me excited for Ael Freakoutapalooza this summer," Krissy said, wrapping her friend up in a hug.

Elin gave her a little smile when the hug ended. "If I don't see you when school gets out ... well."

"Oh please. You'll see me at practices at _least_."

"Yeah, maybe," she agreed.

"Let me know before you leave so I can give you a solid hug, please? Or - I'll let you know before we leave on the tour."

"I'll do my best - you know how Dad is when he decides something is going to happen. Now."

"Yeah, but this is planned in advance. So please?" Krissy let her eyes go wide. "I need my snuggles with my best friend."

"Oh please," Elin said, shaking her head. "You get plenty of snuggles."

"I do, I do," Krissy said, nodding with a mischievous smile. "But I _always_ need more."

"You just say that because you've never gotten to where you don't want to be touched." She narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at her. "And I hope you never do."

"Me too," Krissy agreed brightly before she hugged Elin again. "See you later, Ellie."

Elin stepped back from Krissy, knowing that Krissy at least felt better about things, even if Elin was ready to _run_ and stay gone indefinitely. It was easy to tell someone to buck up and ignore it when they'd only heard it for less than an _hour_. Krissy wasn't getting the full picture - the whispers in the hall - the groups of boys that were following her at Nolan's suggestion - or the flood of texts that came from boys who obviously wanted to score and thought that Elin would be up for it if they _smiled_ at her right.

She was ready to go hide in her room for the duration of the weekend because it didn't quite seem like enough to hide out just for the dance. But as she reached the stairs - and just before she broke into a run, a familiar voice called out to her. "You're not gonna let those jackals chase you off are you?" Annie called out - and it was clear that she'd rushed to catch up to her.

Elin stopped and spun on her heel to face her, clearly at a loss, and feeling pretty self conscious about all of it at this point. "I … really shouldn't have come in the first place. So …yeah. I'm going to head upstairs and just … go to bed, probably."

Annie hummed to herself, wringing her hands, _knowing_ that Elin had been keeping her misery as much to herself as possible. "It's not your fault, you know. The way they talk. That's _their_ horrible manners. I don't care what kind of garbage they're throwing around. It's wrong. All of it."

Elin stopped and let her shoulders drop before she turned on the stairs to face Annie, but before she could argue it, Annie continued. "They don't know _you_ , sweetheart. And most of 'em are either jealous of you or they know they can't have you. So they're going to display their stupidity instead. There is no reason for you to have to carry that all on your own. Especially when he was pushing you. Anyone could see that."

"I just want to forget it happened," Elin said in a heavy tone, but that had Annie shaking her head too.

"No, you don't," she said, almost wide eyed. "You made a mistake in who you shared yourself with. That doesn't mean you need to forget it. It means you need to do _better_ next time. Take your time. Don't let _whoever_ he ends up being push you one _inch_ further than you're ready for." Annie made her way over to pull Elin into a gentle hug. "Besides. Anyone sayin' the kinda trash about you isn't worth knowin'."

Elin smirked into Annie's shoulder as she snuggled in. "Aunt Annie, your accent's getting heavier."

"Hush."

A few moments later, Annie finally let her go and held her at arms length. "It's a shame those idiots are bothering you. You look _beautiful_ , Elin."

Elin brushed her hair behind her ear and forced a smile. "Love you too," she said. "But believe it or not, I'm wiped out."

"I believe it. Wearin' just to listen to that much ignorance." She watched Elin go, but it was clear she was still upset and Annie nodded to herself, already planning to tell Charlie to _keep_ watching out for Elin. Even if tonight she was trying to act her _age_ rather than play big sister to everyone around her.

* * *

While most of their friends were wrapped up in their own little dramas, though, Sying and Charlie were honestly just… having a good time together.

Both of them knew all of the songs, but Charlie didn't try to sing along with Sying, letting him decide whether or not he wanted to do something like that, considering he and Penny had bonded over their love of music and usually ended up singing and dancing.

And Sying knew that Charlie was holding back for his sake. "You're kind of amazing, you know that?" he asked after about the fourth dance that he saw her bobbing her head along to the song.

"What?" Charlie raised her eyebrows at him, completely thrown off by the sudden compliment.

"You don't have to walk on tiptoe around me," Sying said, shaking his head. "Music is for everybody - that's what my parents have always said."

Charlie couldn't help but grin. "I like that philosophy."

Sying matched her grin. "But it's sweet of you to think about stuff like that."

"It's a little selfish," Charlie admitted. "I can't stand it when people are uncomfortable."

Sying laughed and stopped the dance to pull Charlie into a hug. "Even if it is, you're sweet about it," he said.

"Like my parents would let me be anything less," Charlie pointed out.

Sying smiled a little wider. "Well, you're welcome to sing along if you want."

"Tell you what," Charlie said. "I'll sing along if you start."

Sying broke into a laugh. "Deal." With that, he swept her into a much more elegant dance than the one they had been doing before, and the two of them absolutely dazzled the dance floor for the rest of the night.

In fact, Sying even started to sing along by the end of the night - and kissed Charlie's cheek when he took her 'home' to her suite.

"Thank you," Sying said with a warm smile.

"For what?"

"For just… for letting me have fun."

Charlie smiled at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek right back. "Anytime."


	13. There's Something Wrong With Me

Even though Chance had a new room at Muir Island, he had been spending a lot of nights with Krissy. It was just… easier to have someone around, and beyond that, he had been enjoying the privacy with her.

None of the teachers had gotten onto them yet more than to tell them to keep it clean. Chance had a feeling that Moira was still upset that Sinister had managed to break into her school - and Betsy knew that they weren't fooling around.

At least… they _hadn't_ been.

Chance was still lying back and staring up at the ceiling, even though he'd been awake for a while now. He was pretty sure Krissy was still asleep, her hair splayed out behind her and her shoulders bare, the covers had been kicked down to their waists at some point during the night.

She was gorgeous. She really was. She was soft and she was warm and she was funny and she was smart and she was…

...not right.

He felt horrible, because he didn't want to be _that_ guy, the one who bailed as soon as he got what he wanted. And it had been amazing, getting tangled up with Krissy and just having _fun_ and giggling and failing at falling asleep in a rush of excitement and finally drifting off after it was finally too late and they couldn't help but nod off and…

Well.

Now? Now, he was lying next to a gorgeous girl convinced that there was something wrong with him, because all he could think was that this wasn't at all what he thought being in love was supposed to feel like.

And it wasn't like he didn't care about Krissy, either. He'd been thinking about that all morning, trying to figure out _why_ something was wrong with him that he wasn't over the moon excited, completely in love with the girl next to him. She was _fun_. She didn't slow down, and she had a love of life that was downright intoxicating. Being with her was _exhilarating_.

So there had to be something wrong with him. That was the only reason he could think of that he had woken up and seen Krissy sleeping next to him and for the first time since he had started sleeping in her room - he had thought it wasn't right.

It wasn't guilt about fooling around with her, either. Though he was sure that Kurt was probably going to kill him. But that wasn't the reason he looked at Krissy and just… _knew_ that he wasn't going to want to do this for the rest of forever, waking up with her like this. It was different. And he was sure that they both knew it - they had shifted the dynamic of the relationship, and it was one step too far for Chance.

There wasn't a doubt in Chance's mind that he loved Krissy. That much was unmistakable just watching her even now. He did. He cared about her but he just… wasn't… _in love_ with her. No matter how he tried to reason it out, he just wasn't.

And while Chance was staring at the ceiling working things out for himself, Krissy was, in fact, awake - though she was pretending not to be.

There was a big part of her that was freaking out, feeling like she'd made a huge mistake and that she should be ashamed of herself. Her parents would _kill_ her if they found out about this - not to mention the fact that she had just been dealing with Elin and all the fallout from Nolan.

Not that this was anything like _that_ had been. For one thing, she and Chance had been _dating_. They were on the same page - they were in love!

Or… well. That was what Krissy had _thought_.

She had to wonder what Chance was thinking. She _knew_ he wasn't asleep, though he wasn't pretending to be like she was. Was he waiting for her to wake up? She didn't even know what to say to him if he was.

He was going to think she was _that_ kind of a girl. That she'd gotten what she wanted and was done with him now.

She didn't know what to do about the fact that she was feeling so miserable about the whole thing. It was worse because it was _Chance_ , because she'd had a crush on him for such a long time. He was sweet and he was cute and she had wanted this _so badly_.

She couldn't help but feel like she'd been leading him on, which was really just feeding her misery. But she had been so _sure_ that she was in love, because she worried about him whenever there was a mission or something awful like the Sinister thing, and she thought he was gorgeous and she liked the way he would give her a crooked smile right before he kissed her.

It was just that… when she thought about getting _serious_ … for as much fun as she and Chance had just had - and it _had_ been amazing - she wasn't exactly thinking about Chance. Not long-term, not forever. And it was one thing to have fun and date Chance and go on adventures and just _be_ together and another thing entirely to step into something with more weight to it.

Maybe she was just being dramatic. Like she was about everything. She'd heard it often enough - that she blew things out of proportion. That she panicked. That she made a big deal out of things that didn't need to be made a big deal out of.

Yes, that had to be it. She was freaking out because - well - she was _a Wagner_. It wasn't like her parents hadn't fooled around and dated around before they finally found each other, right? This was just…

She shook her head and let out a sigh. Yeah, she didn't think this feeling was going to go away just by wishing it away. And she owed it to Chance to admit it, if nothing else so they could slow down and take stock of what was going on.

She finally turned to face him, pulling the covers up to her shoulders, suddenly more self-conscious than she had been before as he shifted the way he was lying down so that he was facing her, propped up on his elbow and with a thoughtful sort of look on his face. She couldn't help but wonder if he had already figured out what was going on just from watching her pretend to be asleep. She'd never really had a poker face, and she knew it.

"That was fun," she said with a little smile, first and foremost, because she didn't want him to think he'd done something wrong. He _so_ hadn't. And it had been fun. Really, really fun.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed with a little smile of his own. "Do you … want some coffee or something?"

"Yeah," she said, biting her lip as she watched him get up and gather up the clothes on the floor. There was really no reason she should feel like this. He was really cute. He _was_. But this had gone from fun to serious all of a sudden, and he was too sweet to lie to.

"So, how long do you think we've got before we get read the riot act?" Chance asked as he pulled his shirt on.

"I'd be surprised if it was too long," Krissy said before she finally let out a breath, shifting so that her knees were pulled up to her chest and she had gathered up most of the blanket. "Chance… that was really fun," she said again.

"Yeah."

"But um…" She bit her lip as her tail lay still beside her, which was really giving away the fact that she wasn't exactly _happy_ either.

Chance paused what he was doing and looked over at her with one eyebrow arched. "Yeah?"

"Maybe… we shouldn't…."

When Krissy trailed off, Chance let out a breath and sat down at the foot of the bed. "Yeah, me too," he said.

"Really?"

"Really." He twisted his hands in front of himself for a moment before he looked up at her. "Don't get me wrong, Kris. I like you. You're amazing, you really are. I just…"

"Yeah, me too."

He let out a breath and then smiled lightly up at her. "So, what do we do now?"

"How would I know?" Krissy asked, a little bit of teasing coming back into her voice. "You're the older one."

"Yeah, but you're the romantic," he pointed out.

She gave him a _look_ for that, but when he just kept looking at her expectantly, she finally let out a breath and shook her head. "Maybe we just… go back to the way it was?"

Chance nodded slowly. "Yeah. Maybe we just… went too fast."

"Maybe."

Chance let out a breath and then gently handed her her shirt and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "You're still amazing, okay?"

"And you're still the best," she said.

* * *

Banner had finally let James back to get to work, but once he got there, it was plainly clear that there just wasn't much for him to _do._ He frowned to himself when he saw that all of the tasks that Banner needed to have taken care of were already done - and it wasn't even noon yet. But Banner was quietly working away like always, unbothered by James trying to come up with something to do.

It was literally all covered. And nothing new would be available for at least a few days. He had to admit there just wasn't enough to do around there for him anymore. "You're not going to need me tomorrow are you?" James asked in a decidedly down tone.

"Probably not," Banner replied. "If you want more to do, wait about a week. I should have a new shipment in then to continue the half life experiment."

James frowned but knew he had no real choice in the matter. "Let me know if it gets here sooner?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. Go have a little fun," Banner said, looking up with a pleasant smile. "You've been a lot of help."

"That sounds suspiciously like 'don't come back'," James pointed out.

Bruce took off his glasses and turned to face him fully. "James, you knew this wasn't a real long term assignment anyhow. I like the help, _and_ the company, but it's time for you to look for other things to do."

James watched him for a long moment before he muttered out a quiet 'okay', then ignored that last bit and headed out, clearly disappointed - and downhearted enough that Bruce looked pained to see it. But James didn't wait around to hear what else he might have to say as he left. When he got back to the institute, the first person he ran into was, of course, Scott. "Why aren't you with Dr. Banner?"

"Got everything done that he needed help with," James said as he took a seat at the kitchen table and rested his chin on his crossed arms.

Scott raised an eyebrow at that. "So, are you here for a while or have you made other plans?"

"I don't have anything planned yet," James admitted. "I figured this would last a little bit longer. Nearly through what … two thirds of the school year?"

"Well, I'd love to have you on the team if you're interested, and I know Tony's been asking…"

James scrunched up his nose at that. "I don't want to do either of those things."

"You'd be great at either," Scott pointed out.

James gave him a dry look. "Biased."

"Yeah, I'll tell you what I told Elin - I _don't_ 'just say' things about the team," Scott said, giving James a pointed look. "I've put too much work into it my whole life to treat it lightly, even for my godson."

James sighed and straightened up. "Yeah, I just don't think I've got the right mindset for that."

"Not right now," Scott said.

"Then why the hell would I try out now?"

"Because I think the problem is that you don't think you _can_ ," Scott said.

"No, I don't think I _should._ "

Scott shook his head. "Oh, I see. So one mistake and you shouldn't touch the team. I guess it's time I turned in my retirement then."

"That's not it, and _holy crap_ I see where Charlie gets it from," James said. " _Horrible_ guilt trips. Stop that."

"I'm just showing you how absurd it is," Scott pointed out. "I've done much worse things than you have, James. I've brought the planet to war and broken every vow I said I'd keep. So please, go ahead and tell me you're not right for the team. I'll wait."

"Okay. I'm not."

"You are."

"That's your opinion," James said.

"My opinion as the leader of the X-Men - who has been doing this since, oh, childhood. But yes, it's _just_ an opinion," Scott said dryly.

"I will continue to consider your opinion," James replied carefully.

"Yes, and tell your father I want him to consider what to do for your test when you take it."

"Hey. You're assuming I'm going to take it - and that he doesn't already know what he'd do for any given kid in this place."

"Oh, I know he's already got it planned," Scott said. "But he does choose a few different sims based on what you need at the moment. Which is a kick in the pants."

"I'm aware," James said with a sigh. "He does the same thing with our morning routine."

"Good. Tell him I said it's time to kick it up," he said.

"You're not subtle, and I'm not telling him that."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh." He got to his feet. "Well, when you figure out what you want to do, you know where to find me. And if you want to continue saying you've messed up too badly for the team, you still know where to find me."

"Thanks," James said, putting his head back down on his arms.

"You're a good kid, James," Scott said as he headed out - to go find Logan and let him know the kid was just sabotaging himself even though he was done with Dr. Banner's work. "And I don't want you to end up giving up on yourself just because you want to do exactly the opposite of what I say. I've already got one of those, and I love you too much to see you do that to yourself."

"I'm not giving up," James replied.

Scott raised an eyebrow his way, smirked, and pushed open the door. "Uh-huh."

James shook his head and settled in, sure that when his father spotted him, he'd be set up to join in on the combat class at the very least. He had just set his mind to getting a cup of coffee when his phone went off with a text from Tony.

_Banner said you're done playing mad scientist. Ready to come back and play crazy inventor?_

James stared at the message for a long while. He hadn't even been home for an hour. It was almost like Banner was just waiting … or maybe it was because Tony had been talking to Bruce and already _knew_ that he didn't have anything to do now. _How long did Banner wait before he told you I was done?_

_Just now. Wasn't any kind of a conspiracy if that's what you're insinuating._

James had to laugh at that, and shook his head as he texted back. _Sounds like it was._

There was a little pause before instead of a text, the phone rang. "So okay, I might have asked him to let me know when you were done with the whole … radiation … thing. And maybe I'm doing my very best to keep from throwing out a couple of mutation jokes. You know. From the radiation."

James was smiling in spite of himself. "I'm really not sure that I'm up to-"

"Hear me out. Just … take a few days. Think about it. I'll email you my offer - benefits package … all of that goes along with your fellowship."

"I …" James thought about it for a minute and just nodded his head. "Alright. I'll keep an eye open."

The glee coming from Tony was nearly infectious as he ranted for a moment, saying at least half a dozen times that he was _excited_ before James finally got him to hang up. He set the phone down and walked over to the kitchen to get the coffee when the phone chimed with an email. "Yeah, Tony. Not anxious at all, are you?" James muttered to himself as he mixed up his mug. He sat back down at the table just as classes were getting out and opened the email. Tony had of course, jumped right to the heart of matters and James was still staring at his phone when Kari came into the kitchen, clearly ready to head down to combat.

"Oooh, I wasn't expecting you to be here," she called out before teleporting over to the chair next to him. "Are you going to combat?"

"Um … yeah. Probably," James said, slowly getting to his feet. "I can hit coffee later, I guess." He shoved his phone into his back pocket and headed toward the door, stopped a few steps later, turned around and grabbed his mug. "Right. What sims are you guys running?"

"Probably … something to do with soldiers," she said, falling into step with him, frowning at the fact that he clearly was off his game - full cup of untouched coffee considered.

"Good," James said, letting out all of his breath with the word. "I can use something like that, I think."

The combat class went a lot faster than usual - or at least it felt that way. James jumped in with the rest of the class, and dove in though it was clear that he wasn't really thinking about it when he'd take his turn, and when class was over, she very nearly asked him what was bothering him - when he beat her to the punch. "I think I need a non-adult opinion," James said out of the blue.

"Okay, shoot," Kari said, nodding along.

But, instead of explaining, James opened up the email and handed his phone to Kari.

Kari raised both eyebrows and then read over the offer - which really sounded more like something that Tony might offer an adult. His own space and an assistant and transportation along with a laundry list of perks… all to be renegotiated when he turned 18. Kari looked up at James and burst into a smile. "Well, it's nice to see _someone_ appreciates your talents," she teased.

"I think he's crazy," James said. "He's got people there that have been with the company for a long time that don't get half that much."

"So?" Kari asked with one eyebrow raised. "What's age got to do with anything? Or seniority? You and I both know adults can be idiots."

He tipped his head to the side. "Yeah. I don't know what to tell him. It's a great offer, but I think I need to stick with the family when they go to Japan."

"So tell him you'll take it on your terms," Kari said. "If he's willing to offer you this much, I bet he'll let you take a summer vacation. I mean, you're _fourteen_. It's not like that's unheard of. Summer fun. Bet he even remembers what that's like," she teased.

"He is still like that," James pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," Kari said, then grinned over at James. "I just think you should put it on your terms."

"I should have Mom look this over at _minimum_. She likes playing mind games with him … I just don't know … what to even _say_ about this. It's _way_ over starting salary. I know it is."

"I know the money is generous, but it's not _all_ about money, right? Make him meet you somewhere so it doesn't feel like you're just… letting him dictate everything, you know? Like - you want to take a summer. And you want every fifth Tuesday with a full moon off for gallivanting or something."

"Galavanting. Sounds serious." James gave her a little smile and took the phone back to start drafting up his response.

"Oh very," she agreed, grinning and nodding along.

"What kind of galavanting am I supposed to be doing on said fifth Tuesday with a full moon?"

"I'm pretty sure it's something to do with hunting and fresh air and I dunno. Were-hunting maybe."

"Right, right. Of course," he said, nodding. "I think … I'm going to add to this fifth Tuesday full moon addendum that I don't want any pressure on joining the team, too." He looked up at her. "Keep it fair. Not listening to Scott. Not gonna listen to Stark either."

"I think that's a good idea," Kari said with a smile. "And - you don't have to join either, you know. I'm not going to."

"I just … kinda want a little space from all of it," James admitted. "It's been nonstop with one crazy creep after another - I already know I have a target on my back. Don't have the desire to make it bigger right now."

"I can understand that," Kari said, nodding along. "Cody was saying more or less the same thing, but going the opposite way? Like - if he's going to have a target, he might as well be in good company."

"He's got anger issues," James pointed out.

"You don't say."

"Anyhow. Thanks for the input," he said with a quiet kind of a smirk.

"That's what friends are for," she said before she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "And in exchange, I expect gorgeous pictures from Japan that I can paint. I'm working on a new technique."

"Yeah? I've been playing with macro shots. I have some from the lab that are kinda … glowy."

She grinned even wider. "Can I see? Please?"

"Of course," he agreed, gesturing toward the stairs. "On the laptop. As always."

She grinned at him. "You spoil me," she said before she disappeared in a poof of pink.


	14. World Tour

Things on the romantic front… weren't resolving themselves like Chance and Krissy had _both_ hoped.

It wasn't the same anymore. They still had a blast together whenever they were just hanging out, but even sharing small kisses just… felt different.

Not that either of them admitted it out loud, after everything that they'd put into being with each other. But at this point, it really was obvious - they were better off just being friends.

There wasn't really a single point when they had come to that conclusion, but by the time there was only a handful of weeks left in the semester and they were looking ahead to their tour of European adventures, they were broken up in all but official word.

Not that it was going to stop them from their planned tour of skiing, sailing, and general shenanigans. But it was going to be far less about romance and a lot more about the pure _fun_ of it.

Mac was supposed to come and speak at the school about what his school had to offer later that day, and Krissy and Chance walked down together all the same. It wasn't like they'd stopped being _friendly_ with each other, though they'd already had a few people who thought that they were still together, just because they were still… together.

"So, headed back to Westchester in the fall, right?" Chance asked.

"Yeah, that was the deal. I had to do a full year here first," Krissy said.

"You're not going to stay?"

Krissy shook her head lightly. "You know I really just came for you, right?"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"I'm not," Krissy said with a little smile as she reached over to squeeze his arm. "I'm not sorry about any of it."

He grinned at her and shook his head. "You're something else, Kris."

"I know." She smirked over at him and then let out a breath. "What about you? You're coming back home to do more with the team, right?"

"Actually… I'm not sure," Chance admitted. "If it weren't for the fact that I don't think I could do this school on my own, I might stay here."

"Really?"

"Well, obviously, I'd come back for team practices, but… I kinda like doing things outside of our family. You know - new stuff."

"You like the flying lessons."

"No, I _love_ the flying lessons," he agreed with a grin as they settled into their seats.

Mac had shown up dressed to impress - without the jet that most of the other speakers used, instead simply flying in on his own with his Guardian suit, in high spirits and honestly doing a fine, inspiring job when he spoke with the kids on what the Canadian school had to offer. And the red and white suit wasn't anywhere near as obnoxious up close as K had insisted it was oh, so many times.

Krissy could practically see the wheels in Chance's head turning, and she reached over to pinch his arm. "You know, you only have a year left of school," she whispered. "You can go wherever you want."

Chance raised an eyebrow her way and then had to shake his head and smile. "I'm pretty sure my dad would have a heart attack."

"My dad survived me being in Europe for a whole year," Krissy pointed out. "I think yours can handle you being a short flight away."

"I'm pretty sure he'd think you were betraying the whole team just for saying that, Kris."

"And they say _I'm_ the dramatic one," she said, shaking her head at him.

"Well, you are."

"Yes, but still." She pinched his arm again. "You're old enough to make your own decisions, right? And I can _see_ you drooling over the suit." She shooed him with both hands. "Come on, Summers. Live a little."

"I hate it when you 'Summers' me."

"But it works," she pointed out.

He shook his head at her and rolled his eyes, but he made his way over to where Mac was all the same, rubbing the back of his neck a bit. "So, hey, is that invite still open to see the workshop on the suit?" he asked.

Mac shot a grin his way and seemed to brighten up another notch. "Door's always open," he said.

"Then I'm gonna have to stop by," Chance said. "I gotta admit - the suit's too cool to pass up."

"It kinda is," Mac agreed before he waved Chance over to show him some of the controls near his wrist. "I picked up another twenty knots on the trip over - against a headwind. Speed's getting better all the time."

Chance grinned at that as he looked over the controls. "How's the compensation? I mean, you're not exactly in a suit of armor."

"More streamlined than that," Mac replied. "So it's pretty slick, really. Amping up the power source and the storage cells are doing wonders to the output."

Chance nodded, still grinning. "Any chance you'd let someone else take a spin?"

"You're a little short to use mine," Mac said. "Gotta be within a couple inches. So … not quite, but you're close."

Chance smirked. "Hey, with my genes, that's pretty much a guarantee sooner or later."

"Oh, for sure. You'd probably need one for a taller guy by this time next year," Mac laughed.

Chance rubbed the back of his neck. "You know… I really might," he said, a bit more seriously.

Mac nodded. "You'll be every bit as tall as your dad, I'll bet. So … you'll have me beat in no time."

Chance nodded for a moment before he took a deep breath. "So, uh, enrollment period ends in August right?"

Mac stopped and watched Chance for a moment, sure that it was some kind of a trick. "Yeah, two weeks before school starts."

"So you'd - um - I mean, I'd still need to go home for team practices and stuff but could we work that out, maybe?"

Mac stared at him for a moment. "You're not asking hypothetically, are you." It definitely came out more like a statement than a question.

Chance shook his head. "I really just… I want to prove I can do it outside of Westchester. On my own."

Mac's smile had been replaced with a much more serious expression, but he was nodding along. "I don't have a problem working around your team schedule if that's your only concern."

Chance broke into a relieved smile. "Great. Now I just have to tell my dad."

"I'll know when you do," Mac said, the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Chance couldn't help but smirk too. "Alright, well - I'll see you then. I'm really looking forward to seeing the workshop."

"First couple days are short - we'll spend some time," Mac agreed before he dropped a hand on Chance's shoulder and gave him a squeeze. "We'll be lucky to have you."

Chance couldn't help but grin at that. "Thanks, Mac."

* * *

It had been a long day for Scott, with a team practice as well as a test he was running for his class, so Annie hadn't been surprised at all that he had come to bed late. When he was overly busy and stressed, he would often go for a run or run a sim in the Danger Room after the team and the kids were done with it.

It had actually been a while since Scott had come to bed late, though. Charlie had even said something to Annie about how relieved Scott felt now that Charlie and Cody were back on this side of the Atlantic. The separation hadn't been good for him; he was too much of a family man.

Not that he wasn't worried about the kids anyway. Charlie had never had such an emotional load as she'd had when she used Amy to look for Cody. Cody was still awash with guilt over having attacked two members of the senior team and agreeing to go with Sinister - and was nervous about what Sinister would do about that deal in the future. And Chance was all the way in Europe, so it was hard for Annie and Scott to gauge how he was doing. But almost dying wasn't good for anyone, let alone a teenage boy that had been a target for a supervillain since he was a baby.

Chance didn't know it, but Moira and Annie had been in close contact, and that was helping - and Scott talked often with Betsy. Moreso after Sinister's visit to Muir Island. But they were still worried.

So when Annie saw that Scott had Chance's most recent email pulled up on his phone, she leaned over and rested her chin on his shoulder once he had finally sat down beside her in the bed. "He's fine, Scott," she said gently. "He has good people looking out for him."

"I know."

Annie let out a breath and snuggled in next to Scott with her arm around his middle. "Yeah, I'm worried about him too. All of them. Even Chloe is more stressed; she thinks that woman is going to get around to bothering her one of these days, too."

"I know," Scott said heavily. "You know K told me Chloe was terrified when she got her powers. For that very reason."

Annie turned to look at Scott and then kissed his cheek lightly. "We have good people backing us up too, you know. Even if that woman gets the kids, she won't keep them for long. You know that."

"It's what happens before we get there that worries me," Scott said softly.

Annie nodded, thinking of Chance in particular. She'd been worried about him since the day Sinister had realized he was human and had left him on the floor when he grabbed Annie, Charlie, and K back when he was still in his old form and was studying the babies the X-Men were having. And she'd been worried more still since he started training to join the team and had been subjected to bullying the whole time. And she was worried every time he went on a mission.

But she couldn't put words to all of that. So she simply said, "yeah," and then reached out to pluck Scott's phone out of his hands. "Let's not think too hard about it right now. We're prepared. We've done everything we can-"

"We can always do more," Scott said, shaking his head as he tried to get his phone back.

Annie bent backward so that Scott would have to reach over her, practically on top of her, to get it back. "Scott," she said when he, predictably, followed the phone, "you're not paying attention to me."

"Annie-"

She shook her head and then stole a kiss. "Scott."

That finally got Scott to stop and look her full in the face, seeing for the first time the _look_ she was giving him. And then, he couldn't help but smile. "I thought you were worried about the kids."

"I am, but I can multitask," she said before she pulled him into a long, lasting kiss. "Can't you?"

Scott grinned and kissed her back, and it wasn't long at all before, at least for a little while, neither of them was thinking about Sinister. At all.

* * *

The next time Chance was in Westchester was for another team practice - and everyone there seemed to be in high spirits. Krissy had noticed that boys were avoiding Elin now instead of leering at her, and now Nolan was the one getting snickered at.

The practice had gone well with everyone in good moods like that, though Chance had been a bit distracted thinking about how his dad was going to handle him asking to go to Canada, and he almost missed it entirely when Krissy started laughing hysterically at Elin's 'he cries afterward' response to the rumor mill.

Krissy shot him a little look when she noticed how distracted he was. "Oh, go talk to him already, would you?" she said, shaking her head at him.

Chance shot her a look for it, but she stood her ground, and he finally shook his head. "Okay, fine," he said, and didn't miss Krissy's smirk at him as he headed up the stairs.

She had somehow become even worse about that since they stopped kissing.

Chance was still pretty nervous as he made his way up to the booth where Scott and Logan were going over the team's performance on the last sim they'd run. He cleared his throat a bit to get their attention. "Hey, can I… talk to you? When you're done."

Both of them turned at the same time, Scott with a little smirk, Logan with a more appraising expression, but they weren't turning him down. "We were just finishing up," Scott said. "What's on your mind?"

Chance took a deep breath and looked between the two of them. "So, uh. Fall semester's my senior year, and I was thinking I'd like to try one of the other schools," he said quickly.

Logan crossed his arms and leaned back, watching him fidget, but he left it to Scott to deal with. And Scott just watched Chance, the smirk gone as he nodded carefully. "Where did you want to go?"

"Canada," Chance admitted, biting his lip and halfway wincing and anticipating an argument over it.

Sure enough, Scott raised both eyebrows and leaned forward. "What? Why?"

"Well, I really liked being in Europe and getting some different classes and I just…" Chance took a deep breath. "I want to prove I can do it. On my own. Outside of the team that I grew up in."

Scott was already shaking his head, "Chance, you already proved you can handle it-"

"To _you_. And to me. But Dad, I want to be taken seriously, and I don't want to just be Cyclops' kid, okay?"

Logan hadn't moved a muscle for their short back and forth, instead simply watching Chance the whole time. "I get it," Logan said finally.

Scott turned to Logan with a look of total incredulity. "What?"

"It's gotta be hard being the only non-powered guy around," Logan reasoned. "This is for himself. And I can even see why you'd mesh with Mac. Same story."

Chance took a deep breath and nodded. "I've already okayed it with him for me to come home for the team when I need to," he said.

"Still don't think it's a good idea," Logan added.

Chance frowned his way even as Scott was giving him a look that seemed to say he was agreeing with Logan and hated that this was the case. "It's not like the people after you are going to come after me," he pointed out to Logan.

"If I said they were you wouldn't believe it anyhow," Logan pointed out.

"Anyway, I just… I kinda want to work on Mac's suit with him. It's interesting to me, and I get it. I like flying. And he said he wouldn't mind letting some overly smug kids get their butts handed to them by a kid with no powers to take them down a few notches, so …" He looked between the two of them. "I know you don't like Mac. But I want to try it."

"I like Mac just fine," Logan said. "It's the people around him that make me think twice. The ones he doesn't pick to have around him."

"And I'm sure you could still work with him without attending the school," Scott tried to reason. "You don't have to go to a different country just to prove a point."

"I kind of do, though," Chance said. "Every other school is run by the X-Men. This isn't. This is just me. Proving I can handle it outside of the safety net."

Scott frowned at him for a long time before he finally let out a breath. "Fine." He shook his head. "If you're dead set on it, you're old enough to make your own decisions."

"Team members still gotta carry a panic button," Logan pointed out. "Unless you're thinkin you want off of that too."

Chance shook his head. "No way. I'm still coming back to Westchester. I just… want to prove I can do it. Maybe to myself or maybe I just need to show everyone else it's not just my name that got me in." He held up a hand. "I know. I _know_ that's not what got me in. I remember the tests. But I want other people to know it too. I want to be taken seriously and not just… treated like a bad copy of my dad."

At that, Logan looked for a moment like he couldn't quite believe his ears, but he didn't comment on it, instead, just shaking his head to himself and re-adjusting the way he had his arms crossed.

"You know when team practices are," Scott said, shaking his head and resting his forehead on one hand propped up at the elbow.

"I'll try to come back for more than just that," Chance promised. "It's closer anyway."

"Then…" Scott let out a breath. "Alright. But you need to keep your comm and your panic button on you at all times."

"I will," Chance promised, breaking into a grin before he rushed out of the booth to go tell Krissy - since she was waiting for him to get it together and ask anyway.

Scott turned in his seat toward Logan as soon as the door was closed. "I blame you."

"What else is new?"

"All that talk about proving himself and taking it seriously," Scott said. "Well, congratulations - now he's taking it so seriously he thinks he has to prove it to the rest of the world too."

"You really think this is all on me?" Logan asked. "He's been listening to the picking and teasing for years. Every fight he's been in has been from some jackass calling him less than what he is." Logan shook his head. "Kick me if you want to, but this isn't my doin'."

Scott let out a frustrated noise. "He wants to go to _Canada_."

"Right. With the guy that has a suit that can fly." He gestured toward the door. "If he was pushing to go disappear in the woods, I'd agree. All my fault."

Scott gave him a dry look for that one and then let out another frustrated sort of noise. "If he comes home with one of those suits, I'm still going to find a way to blame you," he promised.

"Even if he doesn't you'll find a way to blame me," Logan replied before he got up to leave. "Believe it or not, I'm used to it." He stopped in the doorway and turned back toward Scott. "You wanna run a sim? Maybe something easy. Relaxing. You know. Like taking out Alpha Flight?"

Scott couldn't help but smirk as he started to nod. "You know, I think that would be good. I haven't stretched in a while."

"Might even be useful," Logan agreed. "Who knows."

Scott's smirk widened as he joined Logan and headed down to the Danger Room.

* * *

Once it had become more or less common knowledge that Chance was going to Canada for his senior year, Krissy really wasn't that surprised that her dad cornered her shortly thereafter to ask her what, exactly, her plans were.

"Don't worry, Papa," she said soothingly. "I'm going to stay in Westchester. Europe was fun, but there's no place like home," she added with a little smile.

"Oh?" Kurt said, looking her way with one eyebrow raised. "Then you'll be joining us for the summer vacation?"

"Well, yeah, on the weeks I'm not doing stuff with Chance," Krissy said with a nod. "We already scheduled our skiing and stuff."

"Let me see your schedule," Kurt said, hand out already.

Krissy pulled her phone out of her pocket to hand it over. "It's not a full tour like the Summerses did last year, but we wanted to hit some highlights. It's not like we were sightseeing on Muir Island."

He frowned at the list, smirking when he saw that she planned to see the general area of Germany that he'd spent so much time at as a child, but then he looked outright disappointed as he shook his head. "You're going to miss the two weeks that we're going to Japan with the Howletts."

" _What_?" Krissy reached over to snatch her phone back. "When?"

He tapped the top of her phone. "Second and third week of July."

Krissy looked over the list and then shook her head. "Oh. Okay, no, we can move that," Krissy said. "I am _not_ missing that. No way. And we can see the ice caves in Iceland anytime; it's not a scheduled thing."

"Are you sure you want to reschedule that easily?" Kurt asked with a smirk.

Krissy looked up at him. "Um. Yeah. Obviously."

He started to smile at her. "I'm not complaining, I just thought I should warn you that ninjas may not be a contributing factor by the time they've been in the country for that long. So if that's what you're hoping for … "

"Papa, it's Japan with my best friend and my family - what on earth would make me _not_ want to go?"

He tipped his head at that, but didn't comment on what he was thinking directly. "I can't imagine."

She grinned up at him. "And besides, like I said, it's not on continuous tour, just highlights. We're planning to come back… I want to go to Oz with Ael; it's pretty much a tradition at this point. And Chance isn't going to miss Cody's birthday. You know. Stuff like that."

Kurt nodded at that. "Yes, I can see that," he said. "Have you told your mother about your european tour plans?"

"She's the one who insisted we have bamf babysitters," Krissy said with an impish little smile. "Don't worry so much, Papa."

"Do you _need_ bamf babysitters?" he asked, looking a little more harsh.

Krissy shook her head. "No, she's just being paranoid," she said. "I _told_ her that there's nothing to worry about. I mean, Chance and I aren't even really… we're not really _together_ anymore, so it's not like there's anything _to_ babysit."

"What happened?" Kurt asked, shifting from stern to concerned easily and seamlessly.

Krissy looked up at him in a bit of surprise and then bit her lip. "Oh. We just… we've been kind of drifting for a while now. I really do care about him, but just… not… that way, I guess," she admitted, her ears drooped a bit.

Kurt pulled her over into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Then that's a very mature decision to make - and remain friends."

She hugged him tightly and let her shoulders drop a bit. "Well, it would have been harder if he still liked me, or if I still liked him, but I think we both just… don't," she admitted, very softly. "Which is stupid. He's cute and sweet and we _should_ work together, shouldn't we? I mean, we have a _blast_ as friends."

"Just because you're close and are adorable does not make it a sure thing for a relationship," he couldn't help but grin. "If that was the case, I would have been proposed to half a dozen times, I'm sure."

Krissy laughed and shook her head at him. "Well, that's just because our whole family is adorable." She glanced up at him and let out her breath. "But really - you don't have to worry. We just want to have fun and see the world. I'm not going to come home with a promise ring or something, okay? That's just… not what's happening here."

"I am reasonably sure that Elin single handedly made promise rings very last season."

Krissy laughed and hugged him again. "Thanks, Papa. And thanks for telling me about the Japan trip. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"It wouldn't be the same without you," he told her with a little squeeze.


	15. Summer Lovin'

Logan and his family hadn't been in Japan more than two weeks before it was finally time for Scott and Annie to follow with their own group. It had been ages since they'd been to Japan at all, let alone with Logan. Getting the reports back that the ninja presence was 'minimal' seemed to be enough to lift Annie's spirits, though the boys were crestfallen at the prospect.

But to the entire group's surprise, they weren't staying in the city but in the same little house that Logan had used before, nearer to Mount Fuji, with bamboo forests all around it.

"Kids can explore for a while," Logan said. "Can take 'em into Tokyo when it's not the weekend and more crowded than it needs to be. You an' me gotta meet up with Hisako. She's got a couple spots she's favorin'."

"Are they safe?" Scott asked as the two of them stepped out of the traditional house, already excited to see what Hisako had come up with that Logan hadn't shot down already.

Which left the kids to their devices.

"Now that they're gone …" James turned to Chance and Cody. "We can get outta here."

Cody immediately broke into a huge grin. "Lead the way — you know the best places to have fun around here."

"There's a bunch of lakes close by … most of the stuff to do that'd be real fun—"

"—Cause trouble—"

"—would be in the city," James finished, giving Cody a glare. "So unless you're in a rush to be in the big city, we're better off just screwing around in the woods."

"Lake sounds fun," Chance pointed out. "Kayaks?"

James tipped his head to the side. "Well … yeah. But … I was thinking you might be more up to whitewater rafting." He gave them both a purely troublemaking grin. "I know a place … but if you'd rather just float around, I suppose that'd work too."

"No way," Cody said, the grin widening. "Whitewater rafting it is. Let's _go_."

And as soon as the boys darted out to head off for adventure, Charlie and Chloe took K's list of interesting places and headed out to the local village to enjoy the walking tours that showcased the many waterfalls and red bridges and temples. They might not have known how to speak the local language, but they were truly ready for some solid 'sister' time.

That was more or less how they spent their time for the week and a half they were there, too. Almost every day, the boys would disappear for some kind of shenanigans, and the Summers girls would explore — though they ended up bringing Sadie along with them before too long, which helped their exploration immensely to have a translator around.

But … once it was all over, and they'd chosen their new satellite location — and gotten all of the very technical, very extensive paperwork started — it was time for the group to gather up, since they weren't going to see each other until the end of summer at the very earliest. And though Logan had left the vote up to the group, he was a little surprised to see that they'd all chosen to lean towards a sushi farewell rather than some of the things that Charlie had suggested.

Somehow, it had ended up being the first time all of them had gotten together as a full group, and Chloe was highly entertained by having Elin translate everything that they had set in front of them and trying to pronounce it herself.

"I thought for sure you'd have picked some of this up by now," Elin said as she again told her that the piece in front of her was ' _o-toro'_.

"Well …. Maybe I have some of it down? But it's more fun to be told for sure," Chloe said before she paused, her chopsticks held up in front of her. "Which one was it I didn't like?"

" _Toko_ ," Charlie said with a laugh. "Even I figured that one out already, and I don't _need to._ "

"Ooh, right. That was … squid? Or …"

"Octopus," Elin said before she slid a few things to her that she knew she _did_ like. There were a few jokes back and forth, and on the other end of the table, the boys were more or less doing the same thing, though with a lot less reliability, since James was entertained with the faces Cody was making at several of the offerings.

"You'll like this one," James said, looking perfectly reasonable as he slid a red-topped piece of nigiri in front of Cody.

"That's some kind of fish eggs, isn't it?" he said, frowning at the little bite. "I'm _fine_ with the fish, but the eggs … I don't know."

"You can't even tell they're there," James promised before he picked one up and popped it into his mouth. "Just gives the rice a little flavor."

But when Cody tried it, he immediately made a face at the crunching sensation of the tiny eggs. "What. Is. This?" he said, forcing himself through it but not enjoying it one bit.

" _Tobiko_ ," James said, handing one to Chance to try out. "Flying fish roe. I like the crunch."

Cody pulled a face and shook his head. "Of course you do."

Still smiling, James pushed another nigiri onto Chance's plate. "This one is Elin's favorite. Just fyi."

"What is it?"

" _Anago_ ," James said, then tipped his head to the side. "Can't really find it in the States very often. But _Unagi_ is a good substitute."

"Yeah, but what is it?" Cody asked, leaning over the table to try to pull James' attention.

"Barbequed eel," James said before he took a piece himself.

Chance raised an eyebrow and then looked Elin's way. "Okay, be real. Is this your favorite or is your brother insane — or both?"

"Short answer is yes," she said with a laugh. "It's really good here too."

Chance just had to shake his head at that before he shrugged and popped it into his mouth, then quirked an eyebrow Elin's way. "Huh. I was half expecting something evil because — James," Chance admitted with a smirk. "It's not half bad."

"If he was being evil, he'd tell you to try the sea urchin roe. Definitely an acquired taste."

"Yeah, no thanks," Chance said with a laugh, shaking his head.

"If you want the good stuff — and not the over the top stuff — don't listen to him," Elin advised. "I'll show you the best ones. Not like Mr. Shock Factor here."

Chance grinned her way crookedly. "Thanks, El."

"No problem. You'd starve if you trusted this one."

"Yeah, what would I do without you?"

"Probably go down the street for noodles," she pointed out. "Or hibachi. Or … I dunno. A burger."

Chance laughed as he went back to the sushi. "Whatever you say, El."

"That's what you say when you know I'm right and don't want to admit it," she said, tipping her chin down a touch.

But that just got an even wider and more crooked grin. "Whatever you say, El."

"Proof positive," she laughed. "You ready for something else now, or are you going to trust James?"

"I think we just proved you're the safe bet. I'll follow you."

She gave him a grin and then simply started to show him which was which and how to tell which ones tasted stronger by color over name and description as the group finished up their dinner. After that, it was a quick goodbye among the kids more than anything else, and James was sure to knock Cody off his feet just for the sake of doing it.

"See you in a few months!" James called out before the rest of them shared quick hugs and the Summerses headed back to Westchester.

* * *

While the Summers clan had been in Japan with the Howletts, Krissy had taken the annual trip with her family to the beach to start off the summer the right way — so both Chance and Krissy were in _excellent_ moods by the time they met up with each other for their tour of Europe.

They had decided to start north and work their way south, ending in Paris — which had been far more romantic when they were planning the trip when they were still dating, but all the same, they wanted to hit the highlights.

So for the moment, that meant skiing in Norway — which they sincerely hoped would work out better for them than it had the last time they'd gone skiing.

Still, both of them had a bamf apiece and a panic button, so they were pretty confident that everything was going to be fine.

And it ended up being three days of nothing but snow, coffee, and a whole lot of skiing. Chance even tried his hand at snowboarding the third day instead of skiing, and he'd almost gotten the hang of it by the time their last day was over, though Krissy stuck to skis.

They were just packing up to head to Denmark — Krissy wanted a picture with the statue of Hans Christian Anderson — when Krissy noticed something a little further off and teleported to go investigate.

And right there, on the mountain, she was surprised to come face-to-face with a fair-haired, blue-eyed boy in a collar — who looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

That surprise lasted for all of a second, though, before he reached out to grab her wrist, and of course, her first instinct was to reach for him as well, to try and reassure him. After all, whoever had put a collar on him … he was in trouble.

But when he pushed the sleeve of her coat back a bit, she immediately yanked her hand back, staring at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"You're an X-Man, aren't you?" the boy asked.

"Well, yes, but what are you doing out here?" Krissy asked. By that time, the bamfs had caught up to her, and they'd brought Chance along as well, who was eyeing the newcomer warily. "Who did this to you?" she asked, gesturing to the collar he was wearing.

"Long story," the boy said, looking between the two of them and regarding Chance with some serious suspicion as well. He shook his head and held out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Christian."

"Krissy," she said, reaching out to take his hand, but instead, he stepped forward and reached for her face.

She teleported away in an instant, and Chance pulled out the Stark guns that he had promised to take with them so that they'd have a little extra protection. "Don't take another step," he told the boy — Christian — with the gun leveled right at him.

"They're just about to tell you the same thing," Christian said — as a few Norwegian soldiers started to melt out of the surrounding trees toward the group.

"Oh, come on," Chance said in a tone that clearly read how annoyed he was. "We haven't even been on vacation for a week and already this kind of crap is happening?" he asked Krissy's way.

She smirked at him. "Yeah, I know, it's a real drag being us," she agreed before she teleported away - and Chance disappeared with his bamf an instant later.

Not that they had gone too far. Chance reappeared far enough out that it wasn't immediately obvious where he was — but still close enough that he could see Krissy if he needed to. And Krissy — Krissy had teleported right to Christian and grabbed his arm to teleport off with him again, meeting up with Chance before they did one more 'port, this time to Muir Island, guided by the bamfs.

"If there's something special about that collar, like it's going to blow up or something, you better tell us right now so we can get you to Shadowcat," Chance said as soon as they'd arrive, while the blond looked incredibly disoriented from the whole thing.

It took a couple of blinks before it seemed like Christian had even registered that they moved before he quickly shook his head. "No… but it's got tracking and a sedative, so as soon as they realize…."

"Not a problem," Krissy said, nodding before she turned to her bamf. "What do you think — Shadowcat or Storm?" The little guy chattered at her for a moment, and she nodded seriously. "You're right. Shadowcat has Lifeguard with her, and if there's something horrible in this collar thing, he'd be good to have on hand."

"Wait a minute-" Christian started to say, but before he could put up any more of an argument than that, the bamfs had teleported all three of them to Chicago.

And they weren't a moment too soon, either, because Krissy had barely called out to Kitty that they had found someone that needed some help before Christian started to sag - probably from the sedative that he'd said was in the collar — and Chance caught him before he could hit the floor.

"What happened?" Kitty asked as she and Lucy got there and Lucy directed Chance on taking the unconscious mutant down to the medical wing. "I thought you two were on your dashing romantic getaway."

"We _were_ ," Krissy said, glossing over the fact that it wasn't really a romantic getaway at this point anyway in favor of just making sure that this kid got some help before he ended up back in a weapons program. "But I guess some people can't see a gorgeous purple Elf and not decide they _have_ to have one," she added with a little sniff.

"Norwegian weapons program," Chance explained when Kitty looked his way. "They don't have those muzzle things like the Russians do, but they apparently have tracers and sedatives for their recovery to keep their mutant 'weapons' from running away."

"Not for much longer they won't," Kitty said as she looked over the gadgetry around Christian's neck and made a face at it before she called David down to take a look at it — so he could pick it apart. It was a newer design, after all. "Unless Howard wants a summer project," she added.

David's response over the comms was a little laugh. "I think Howard would appreciate it if I _stopped_ giving him projects and let him flirt with pretty girls."

"Summer project it is," Kitty sang out. "You can send the specs over to him so he won't even have to leave New York."

"You're just mean, you know that?"

"I do indeed. Learned from the best, after all," Kitty said with a smirk before she turned back to the two junior X-Men with a smile. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of this kid, and we'll have that collar off of him in no time."

"Thanks, Kitty," Krissy said with a smile before she darted closer to wrap her up in a hug.

"Try not to get into too much trouble, okay?" Kitty teased lightly as she returned Krissy's hug.

Krissy simply responded by drawing a halo over her own head. "Me? Trouble? You must be thinking of the wrong elfling."

"Oh, sure," Kitty said with a laugh. "Go ahead; have fun in Europe."

"Thanks," Chance and Krissy sang out, almost in unison, before they disappeared with the bamfs. They had missed their boat ride out to Denmark by then, but they could take a more direct route anyway, and they arrived on the beach in two poofs of blue, since the bamfs were running the show for long-distance teleports.

Krissy shook her head as she turned to Chance. "Okay, I'll admit — this was not how I expected this vacation to start."

"Does it ever go the way we're expecting it to?" Chance pointed out with a little smirk. "I mean, we _are_ X-Men."

"True," Krissy had to agree, laughing, before she took his arm. "Come on. There's a statue that I wanted to pose with."

From there, it really was simply a matter of sightseeing for the two of them — and coming down from the adrenaline high of the fight. By the time they day was over, Krissy was passed out asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, so it fell to Chance to do the massive group email that they were sending out every day to both of their families as well as their friends to update them on their adventures — and to make sure that they had an early warning system if anything did go wrong, like Sying emailing Elin every day.

After all, that was the whole reason Sying had only been missing for a little over two days, instead of the full month he had been gone with the Shi'ar.

_Hey everybody,_

_So if you've talked to Kitty, you may or may not know: today me and Krissy wrapped up our skiing trip and were headed to Denmark, but we ended up taking an unexpected detour. I guess the Norwegian authorities saw Krissy and her fur and tail, and it wasn't hard to put together who she was._

_We're both fine, but they sent a kid about our age to come after us. We don't actually know what his powers are because he didn't get to use them, but we were able to get him away from the Norwegians and took him to Chicago to get the collar off of him._

_Did a little sightseeing to calm down after that_ — _you can probably tell from a few of the pictures that we were running on a bit of adrenaline. But hey, big smiles, right?_

_Anyway, Krissy's totally wiped, so I'm the one doing the daily overview this time, so I know I'm probably lacking in the usual gushing details, but hey, I'll let the pictures from Norway and Denmark speak for themselves, huh?_

_See you guys soon!_

_~Chance and Krissy_

* * *

It seemed like everyone was taking a turn with the Howletts in Japan, first the Summerses and then the Wagners had spent two weeks in the middle of July… and, of course, the whole of the emailing group was just _waiting_ for Ael and the dancing octopus when that came up.

 _I'll let the footage do most of the talking for me, but … I am ninety percent sure that Ael was going to lose his tiny Kree mind when we took them out for lunch tonight. Dad wasn't going to do it, really. But he just heard too much cringing and complaints about all the_ fish _that he decided to order the_ katsu ika odori don _for anyone that wanted to try it. So you know._

 _Himself. Mom. All of us in the immediate family, really_ — _even Malin tried it. But also … Noh. Sying was trying to be tactful for his brother's sake, but the truth of it was: he was laughing so hard at Ael's reaction to it when the squid started trying to crawl out of the rice bowls that I don't honestly think he could have managed it without shooting a tentacle out of his nose._

_Which would have been a great video to send too, if I'm being perfectly honest. But it didn't happen, and Jubilee insisted we hit noodles afterward … partly because she was crying from laughing about it._

_James has asked me to link to an album so he doesn't have to upload into the emails all the time … you can just check there to see if there's new stuff, and I don't know what's wrong with him, but there aren't as many landscapes this time out. He's getting more artsy, guys. I'm sorry._

_See you at the start of school_ — _and probably not sooner._

_Elin_

Chance and Krissy were in Paris when they saw the email from Elin come in with the video of Ael, and by the time they had watched the full freakout — which was just as much in Kree as it was in English — both of them had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.

The best part was the fact that Sying had somehow convinced him to stay in his seat after the initial freakout until the squid moved again, and then, he had somehow managed to slip past all of his speedy siblings to get _out_.

Though it was also hilarious to watch the fact that Noh was playing a perfect straight man and just calmly eating the whole time … and the fact that the twins were in _tears_ because they could clearly hear everything going on in Ael's head… and the fact that the Howletts were doing that thing when they couldn't stop laughing when they gave up on even _trying_ to stop.

It was really fun to watch, honestly, and they went through it three times before they finally could hardly breathe and had to put it away.

And back in the non-digital-hilarity world, this was the last stop of Chance and Krissy's European trip, and Betsy had let them borrow her apartment so they could stay for a few days.

"Wonder if she would have let us stay here if we were still dating," Chance said as the two of them sat out on the balcony with the lights of Paris in the distance. It really, really was a romantic sight.

"I don't know," Krissy admitted. "She was definitely watching out when we were at Muir Island."

"Yeah, and I noticed she stopped right around March. She probably knew we were done before we did."

"You have a telepathic brother and sister _and_ an empathic twin. _Why_ are you surprised about this?" Krissy pointed out.

"Good point."

Krissy smiled and shook her head at him as she leaned back in her seat. "So," she said, looking out toward the lights in the city. "You're going to Canada pretty soon here."

"Yeah. Thanks for giving me that push, by the way."

"You practically drool all over yourself whenever you see the flying suit," she pointed out. "You were going to be all… pouty if you didn't at least try it out."

"Seriously?"

Krissy grinned at him. "Don't pretend you wouldn't be, because I know for a fact that you get downright mopey."

He shook his head. "If you say so."

She grinned even wider. "I do."

"Well, what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're staying in Westchester, right?" When Krissy nodded, Chance gestured her way. "So … you got any prospects?"

"Oh my gosh, Chance. Are you really asking me who my secret crush is in the City of Love?"

Chance flushed pink. "I guess I am," he admitted. "I just thought…" He looked out toward the city. "I dunno."

"You were thinking you wanted to bring someone else out here, huh?" Krissy asked, and when Chance looked even redder, she reached over and squeezed his arm. "It's okay. I … was kind of thinking that too. I mean, my parents got engaged here, you know."

Chance raised an eyebrow her way. "And?"

"And… I don't really know," she admitted. "But I think that's a good thing. I'm only sixteen. I've got plenty of time to find someone that I want to take to the Eiffel Tower and propose to them."

"You are _so_ your mom," Chance couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh come on. It's a great story."

"It is, but come on — you were just saying you're too young to have it all planned out… and now you have it all planned out."

"I'm a romantic; what can I say?"

Chance shook his head and laughed at her. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out."

She grinned at him and rested her chin on the palm of her hand. "Okay, but what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're, like… come on, Chance. You're graduating this year. You've got to have plans. You're a _Summers._ Aren't you guys made of plans?"

"You are confusing me with my sisters."

"Clearly," Krissy said, shaking her head. She watched him for a while longer before she smiled lightly. "You should ask her out."

"I don't think she — hey." Chance turned to face Krissy with his eyebrows high. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Krissy grinned broadly, her tail swaying behind her and betraying how entertained she was. "Oh come on. We've known each other our whole lives. Or, at least, _my_ whole life. You think I don't know you like my best friend?"

"Krissy…"

"No, it's okay," Krissy said, still smiling at him. "Really. I was totally flattered that you picked me. I kinda figured it was a 'couldn't decide between two good choices' kind of thing, but… I think you'd rather be taking her on a tour like this."

"It wasn't like that," Chance said, shaking his head. "I really liked you."

"I know," she said. "Your sister would have busted you otherwise."

"Kris…"

She shook her head and smiled. "I promise: I wouldn't mind," she said. "I would have been jealous and horrible if you'd picked her first. Maybe we just had to figure this out," she said, motioning between them. "After all, everything happens for a reason."

Chance couldn't help but smile at her and lean over to kiss her cheek. "You know something? Whoever you find is going to be _so_ lucky."

She grinned at him. "And I expect to be maid of honor when you figure it out."

"Kris… you're insane."

"I'm serious," she said. "I may not be in love with you, Chance, but I still love you both, and I want you to be happy, and if my two best friends got together?"

"You wouldn't know what to do with yourself," Chance said, shaking his head. "In this _highly_ hypothetical situation. Seeing as I've never been able to get her to go out with me."

"You're just mad I'm right."

"Yeah, Kris. The girl I've never dated who is way out of my league is definitely my future wife. You're totally right."

Krissy rolled her eyes and leaned over to poke her finger in the center of his forehead. "You think too small."

"You get way too far ahead of yourself."

"My way's more fun."

Chance batted her hand away. "Look, I'm just… I'm just going to try and finish my senior year without anyone trying to kill me, okay? That's my school year resolution."

"I mean, I wouldn't complain if you were murder-incident-free all year? But you gotta maybe think a little bigger."

Chance laughed. "We clearly gotta get you back to Westchester. You're drama-deprived."

"And totally right!" she insisted, drawing herself up.

He let out his breath and leaned back, shaking his head. "Yeah, okay, so I like her. But could you do me a favor and not go overboard? You know she tends to do exactly the _opposite_ of whatever you try to _push_ her into, right?"

"Yes, Chance. In my entire lifetime of being best friends with Elin, I did, in fact, manage to pick that much up."

"I'm just saying."

"I'm not going to screw up your romantic life," Krissy giggled, shaking her head at him.

"Just…" Chance shook his head at her. "I dunno, Kris. We'll see how it goes. If she's even interested."

"Uh-huh. So I can be the maid of honor, right?"

"Kris—"

"Chance, you're overthinking it," Krissy said.

"Yeah, what could there be to overthink that my ex-girlfriend is trying to set me up with her best friend?"

Krissy laughed and leaned back. "Fine. I won't push. If you _must_ know, I want Elin to be happy too, but you can sit over there in your little land of 'she's too good for me' and _pine_."

"You're not funny."

"I am. I'm hilarious."

Chance shook his head at her and then tossed one of the mint chocolates they'd been snacking on at her so that it hit her smack in the middle of her forehead — and that was enough to spark an entire chocolate war that, at least for the moment, kept Krissy away from dangerous topics like Elin.

* * *

The Howletts only had a couple weeks left in Tokyo before they were headed back to Westchester, but while they were still there, they were helping Hisako put on the final touches to the satellite location … and part of that meant training Hisako's distant cousin — Takashi — on how to help.

While Logan and K were helping Hisako iron out the final details, Elin was tasked with teaching Takashi how to deal with new people who had a thousand questions. They were nearly halfway through her final tips and encouraging thoughts when she realized how he was watching her.

He was clearly mesmerized and not even trying to hide it as he grinned her way. "Have you been listening to me?" Elin asked.

"Every word," Takashi promised before reciting back her last bit of advice and then positively beaming her way. "You're very pretty."

Elin paused, not at all expecting that from him. "Thank you," she said.

As she opened her mouth to compliment him, he blurted out, "Would you please join me for the festival tonight? I know it's short notice, but I would love to show you around."

She couldn't help the smile — Takashi was a nice guy, and he'd been a lot of fun around Hisako, so she didn't see anything wrong with heading out with him. "I think that sounds like fun," she agreed. "I'd like to see where the new places are."

He grinned wider somehow and offered her his arm. "We can go now … I can take you to lunch if it's alright?"

She paused and called out to her father to ask permission, which, of course, Logan gave and the two of them headed out. They spent their free time together for the next week before Takashi worked up the nerve and kissed her — surprised that much more when she kissed him back.

Though as soon as the kiss ended, she put up one hand between them. "You know we're not staying, right?" she said.

"I know."

"So you know this is very short-term," she said, to which he let out a breath but nodded.

"Yes. But … we can have fun while we can, right?" he said with a grin that Elin only thought about for a moment before she nodded in agreement.


End file.
